Welsh Wakeboard Open RoundUp

Glasfryn Wake Parc hosted the second Welsh Wakeboard Open last weekend and yet again got blessed with some banging weather. The sun shone throughout the weekend and it felt more like a September weekend than Bonfire Night! Over 30 riders entered the contest and rode all day on the 3 System 2.0’s and 6 obstacles that sit over Glasfryn Wake Parc.

There were some hotly contested divisions and loads of great prizes given out to the top 3 in each category. The juniors started the comp and it was a close call at the top with Taylor Knight and Milo McCafferty very close. Milo and his family had travelled all the way from Holland to enter the Welsh Open! Unfortunately it wasn’t to be Milo’s day and Talyor’s better variety in his run gave him the bigger prize bag.

The Welsh Open is all about grass roots and getting people who have just started wakeboarding entering competitions, meeting other riders and developing their skills. The Rookies division sums up perfectly what it is all about and it is always good to see how fast people progress. Nick Wellburn took the victory on his home spot followed by Joe Howden who had travelled all the way from Nottingham to enter.

In the ladies division we saw some real progression from Robyn Seymour-Jones who had an amazing run topped off by landing her front side 360 off the kicker. Sarah Kilip grabbed second place and Libby Henderson who has only started riding this year took the final podium position.

Due to the increased standard of riding at Glasfryn over the summer an intermediates division was added into the mix for the men and was totally justified by the standard that was seen. Andy Huddleston won it with Rik Barid in close second. The Open men saw some real improvements from riders like Jordan Philips who has really come on this year and Ollie Torr who has only rode a wakeboard about 20 times! In the end the top spot went to James Hackney who had one of the most ram packed full runs we have ever seen at a System 2.0 contest, he ticked all the boxes with his combination of air tricks, rails hits and 360 and Indy Tantrum off the kicker. Toby Yeo was second with the smoothest run of the weekend but just lacking the quantity that Mr Hackers had. A big shout out must go to Jamie Nicols batwing on the kicker which was super stylish.

In the wakeskate the defending champion Callum Warren reclaimed his title with Fintan McCafferty in second spot. Local skating hero and all round legend Ifor Jones took the third spot and a well deserved prize bag.

As soon as it went dark there was a floodlit wall ride competition on the Oshea Wall Rides which pretty much turned into a junior competition as Talyor, Lewis and Milo battled for the top spot. Glasfryn Parc put on the evening entertainment with a bonfire, fireworks display and live band.

The weekend was a fun and relaxed competition and thanks to all the sponsors: Oshea, Renthal, Mystic, SkullCandy, Oakley, Reef, Jacksy and Fatboy.