The Winter Jam
As you know, a few of us at WAKEimperial went down to Prince’s this weekend to compete in the first of Uniwake’s events of 2012.
Imperial had a solid representation with seven riders turning up to compete. Unfortunately, Oli had to forgo his place in the competition due to illness, instead coaching WAKEimperial from the sidelines.
Men’s Beginners
Tom Jones; an unusual treat
The comp kicked off with Men’s Beginners. Jake and Tom stepped up anticipating some serious competition. Although Tom had a few tricks up his underused sleeve, his variety of obstacles was not quite enough for the judges which left only Jake in the final five. He was given two laps to prove himself, but the pressure proved too much as he fell on a simple slider, something that would have been executed with style and ease at the end of last season.
Women’s Intermediates
The much-loved Danni-B was the next rider for Imperial in the Women’s intermediates. New to this category, Danni did not know how she would fare. Fortunately she’s come a long way since last years beginners category and her combination of steeze on the rails as well as a few kicker tricks led her to second place.
Danni-B searching for the handle
Men’s Intermediates
In the Men’s intermediates, we had Gary and an injured Tim. Gary, last year’s beginners champion, knew he’d have to pull out all the stops to impress the judges. We got to see a sweet transfer or two as well as some impressive switch stuff. We may have even seen a raley attempt if the operators didn’t fork so much. Sadly, this was not enough for the final round and left Tim to prove Imperial’s worth.
Even with a busted shoulder, Tim still managed huge raleys off the dock which got the judges attention. They loved the 180 transfer and the scarecrow off the kicker, so much so that Imperial took home first place in this category.
Men’s Advanced
Textbook 50-50 on the flat bar
Finally was Men’s advanced. Antoine has built up his repertoire since last year, adding a couple of tricks to blind. Unfortunately, everyone else had improved their game as well meaning once again, Antoine was left trailing just behind. Next year, our flat-water man is going for a podium. We just need that 313…
Wrapping Up
All in all, it was a solid effort by Imperial College’s Wakeboarding society. We achieved some decent results with eyes on even more success next year. Check below for the full gallery. And a big thanks to our special event report and photgraph, Clare Desmet, which relentlessy shot in excess of 600 pictures throughout the day
Peace x
