Sheffield Ten Feet high Stop 1 report
In the third year of Sheffield’s Ten feet High Series, the event has grown from a relatively quiet club comp to a national event attracting riders from all corners of the country. The first stop on May 16th had over 70 riders, ten of which, we’re proud to tell you, were ladies. Sheffield have a gift hosting awesome competitions with large numbers of participants, and yet keep the intimate cosy atmosphere that makes club comps so inviting, especially for those first timers!
The whole event was hosted on one day leaving only room for a 2 pass format, no qualifiers, no LCQs, 2 passes of the cable course, best run counts and a wild card trick for one of your passes – then change, cup of tea and monster BBQ! The weather wasn’t remotely interested in helping us out. Typically the brief interludes between showers allowed the sun to make pictures tell a totally different story! But rest assured, it wasn’t nice! Thankfully this coupled with the 1 round format left little time on ‘Cyclone Saturday’ to be concerned too much about the sea horses dancing on the course, the sub zero temperatures and the beast on the far side of the lake, the monster A frame transfer wall ride! Seeing it in the flesh was scary, but with the elements against us, time to just get on with it!! In such conditions nobody was going to find it easy putting on their best moves. The pressure was off, not a day for showboating but primed for having fun and letting what will be..be. The course began at the aforementioned ‘A frame wall ride beast’, then first corner, clear to second corner, option of left or right kicker, then left flatbar to finish the course.
The Open Ladies division was pretty jammy to say the least having everyone’s first pass in brief glorious sunshine, second pass not so lucky as the wind picked up and the rain pounded us like BB gun pellets again! Off the dock we had a great mix of riders, from first timers to current and former British Squad members, but with one Open Ladies division, we were all in it together.
The wild card element seemed to take the pressure off a little as it provided somewhat of a ‘lifeline’ if you like for ‘that trick’ that might just make the difference. The girls were throwing down slides on the wall ride, back lips down the A frame, an impressive volume of solid boardslides all the way over, Jen Read just missing riding away from it. The beast was being tamed! Then as expected, Sophie Cordery and Ellie Taylor launched into a series of raleys and krypts, Emily Bebbington added a toe side raley to her arsenal, I’ve never seen a chick do that before! Alexis got her backrolls in between the corners and Coxy and SK went for raleys as their wild card! The latter landing it, but not making the corner! Lefties get it tough!! Then on the kickers we saw a mixture of spins, tantrums, scarecrows, 180’s and finally the flatbar was treated to a few spins and a Bebbington backlip!
The final results came in
1) Sophie Cordery
2) Ellie Taylor
3) Alexis Twigden
“Awesome job by all the ladies for riding in the in the super duper torrential weather!!! It’s always amazing to ride with all the girlies who are pulling off loads of inverts, def gives me a kick up the bum!!” Coxy (Nicola Cox Sheffield rider)
“It was so much fun I love doing it” Sophie Wickham (Sheffield rider)
“Love starting the season’s competitions with a really friendly fun atmosphere, kind of breaks you in gently but gets you fired up for the next ones.” SK (Sarah Kingdom Thorpe rider)
“I really enjoyed the comp its so chillaxed and friendly but really gives you the boost to go for it! I landed my first kicker backroll in a comp and was chuffed I was so close to landing the A Frame. Was great to be inspired by the other girls doing inverts, sliders with style and motivated me to push myself and try new tricks ready for the second round of Ten Feet High” Jen Read (WMSki rider)
“your (the girls) words of encouragement made me feel much better after my hideous run, the nerves completely got to me but looking forward to the next! So good riding with others girls and getting inspiration for what next to try.” Danni Jameson (Sheffield rider)
“It was cool that we only had a final as it meant less waiting around that you get at comps. The weather was horrendous….. but great to get back on the water with the girlies.“ Alexis Twigden (WakeMK and Box End rider)
Considering the weather, the girls did well and got the fires stoked for the next Ten feet high tour stop on June 27th. The Ten Feet High Series is a fantastic way to introduce you to the world of competitive wakeboarding. Thanks to Andy Granger and Jo Jeffries and all of the Sheffield Crew fro putting on such a great event. See you at the next one Xxxx
Monday 01 June 2009 | Permalink
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