Relentless UK Pro Wakeboard Boat Tour #1 Report

Sat 12th June was a great day for UK wakeboarding, and an even better day for the women’s wakeboarding boat scene. The tireless efforts of ambassador to the sport Matt Crowhurst and his team put together the first UK Pro Wakeboard tour the country has seen for many years. The idea was to showcase the best riders in the UK, selected from last year’s competition results and committee consensus raising the profile of the sport and encourage greater participation. With money in the pot the riders were given more incentive to stake their claim on the podium… and the girls gave it everything they’d got at the event down at the LDB Wakeschool, at JBSki Thorpe.

Amongst the 6 female riders there were new faces, returns from injury, neck niggles and of course nerves. However, the standard far exceeded expectations. The girls were fired up and throwing down invert after invert. We saw 360’s both heel and toeside, scarecrows, fronts, roll to reverts, indy tantrums, indy toe side backrolls and lots of boned and tweaked out grabs. The girls were riding very well.

“It’s great to see such consistency of riding with the girls, all at a higher standard. I was impressed to see how good and smooth both Charlotte Bryant and Sian Hurst’s riding was given they’ve only recently returned after knee surgery. But Sam Knott was a good surprise seeing such a high standard from a newcomer to the scene.” LBD of LDB Wakeschool

Cable rider Sophie Cordery rode well with a solid mix of grabs and spins showing her enormous potential as a boat rider, but her lack of inverts saw her out shone by more seasoned riders. Irish rider Sian Hurst rode big and hard, despite her ‘new’ knee and will definitely be one to watch out for as her riding is set to improve over the forthcoming months. Many of the riders weren’t even competing when Sam Knott was last on the podium, so this ‘newcomer’ is more a welcome resurrection of the potential of women’s wakeboarding in the UK. Sam Knott won the Junior World Championships back in 2000. So ladies, once you’ve got it, it never leaves you! We’re very excited about having Sam back on the scene.

Current National and Wakestock Champion Charlotte Bryant laid down an impressive trick run including roll to reverts, heel 360’s huge backrolls and fronts to secure a third place spot. Jules Hayley rode very well starting things off with her signature super steezy stalefish grab and all her big backroll, front roll and made sure all her grabs were boned out. Great riding from Jules.

However, top spot went to the swan of the UK riding scene, the elegant and graceful Argentinian Robbie Rendo. Making all her tricks look effortless despite a sore neck, big floaty tantrums, indy toe side backrolls and spins secured her win for the first stop of the UK Pro Tour 2010.

These girls are setting the benchmark for the UK female boat scene, and we’re thrilled to see that they’re pushing and pushing. Not long before we see raleys, roll to reverts and 540 as standard! Great work girls.

Final standings:-
1) Robbie
2) Jules
3) Charlotte
4) Sian
5) Sam
6) Sophie

You can see more photos from the event on the Wide-a-wake Facebook Group

The 2nd stop of the Relentless UK Pro Tour will be held on 4th September at Quayside, Surrey to decide the overall tour winner.

If all this has wetted your appetite to compete, make sure you enter the UK Nationals June 26-27th at the West Midlands Waterski Centre in Tamworth B78 2DL. Open Ladies, Masters Women, Womens Wakeskate categories all available. To enter see http://www.wakeboard.co.uk

Wednesday 16 June 2010 | Permalink