Board Up™ Miami is committed to the grassroots efforts of wakeboarding.  In an effort to promote wakeboarding development, Board Up™ Miami, a pro-am wakeboarding event that also features other action sport demos, live music, and more will be hosting the Pan Am Wakeboard Championships for Jr. Men (ages 14-18) and Boys (ages 10-13) on Thursday April 23.  Competition for those two categories will be conducted in its entirety   Entry into the competition is $150.00.  Winners of each age group category will automatically advance to Saturday April 25th’s Board Up™ finals and a shot at the prize money.  All registered competitors regardless of finish also receive a goodie bag and a free ticket to watch the finals and other festivities.  

Registered riders already include pro’s Jeff Weatherall, Adam Fields, Darin Shapiro, and Jeff House to name a few on the men’s side and Raequel and Shawna Hoffman on the women’s side.  Competitors will also be arriving from Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, Canada, and Mexico to complement the list of entrants representing the United States.

Board Up™ Miami is a pro-am wakeboard competition that allows the world’s best pros to compete against some of the top amateurs looking for a chance to score their first professional contracts and the glamour that comes with it.  This year’s prize purse will be over $10,000 with competition for both male and female riders of all divisions.  Board Up™ is the signature event of a weekend that begins on Thursday April 23rd and Friday April 24th with the IWSF Pan Am Region Wakeboard Championships.  Amateur winners of the Pan Am automatically get a shot to ride with the pros on Saturday April 25th at Board Up™.

For the participant sporting event enthusiast, Saturday morning starts the day off with the Nike Swim Miami, an open water swimming competition for over 700 athletes that features a 10K (the swim marathon), 5K, and mile swim that in the past has featured current and former Olympians, collegiate and high school All-Americans, and plenty of weekend warriors of all ages and gender.  Additionally, this year, Saturday’s festivities will also showcase a Dragonboat paddling competition with over 500 competitors.  Dragon Boat racing is one of the oldest and most popular forms of paddle boat racing, with its origins in Hong Kong, China.
 
Rider registration is available on-line via the event website, www.boardup.net .  

A portion of the event’s proceeds will go to the H2O’s Foundation, Helping Others Swim, www.h20swim.org, to provide underprivileged children with aquatic experiences.