Howdy folks,

Where do we start, last weekend saw the kick off of the Irish Freestyle kayaking session with an event on the Curragower Falls in Limerick City. The run up to the event saw lots of people questioning the availability of water to make the wave work, but the ESB confirmed water for us early on Friday morning and we were all set to go. With 40 odd paddlers showing up all set to strut their on the wave which was running at near perfect level.

It was easy too see that the wave hasn’t been working regularly in the last few months as everyone seemed a little rusty at first but after the first runs blew the cobwebs off there were some impressive moves thrown down, including Pistol Flips, big fat blunts and donkey flips.

Mark Leonard laying it down

The day its self was great the sun came out and some of us myself included caught a little too much sun. One of the highlights of the day was seeing the junior ladies & men and how much they are really setting a high standard for themselves, they are a credit to all those who have being coaching them.

The ladies expert class was quiet close and the standard only seems to be improving year on year and the there were some real nice smooth rides put down.

Fran mid run

The day was run using the new ICF Rules which ment in the heats each paddler got 4 rides and their best two counted. I was decided before the event started that the finial results would be taken from the heats as time was tight and we were not certain of water for a second day to the event.

Len mid Pistol flip

So after some nice rides and plenty of banter in the eddy and river bank the finial results stacked up as follows.
Clicky here for full size version

As most of you know this event also served to select our team that will be heading to the Worlds Championships held in Thun at the end of August this year.

On behalf of the Committee I would like to thank all those who help make this a success. That includes the paddlers for travelling and making the event possible. The judges who gave up their day, a big mention to Killian Kelly and Ross Redmond who came just to help us judge and also to Caitriona O Brien who kept the time and things running smooth. Also to those whom are too many to mention who scribed and helped the judges out throughout the day.

Also a massive thanks and mention to the guys in the ESB who allocated us the water and without it the day would not have happened. Also cheers to the guys at the Curragower Falls bar who let us use their back room for prize giving.

I would also like to mention the shops which we when to purchases our prize vouchers off and they pretty much all made sure we left left with more than we paid for, thats allot guys.

Oh and in the the words of Jenny Kilbride thanks to those who said thanks.

Adrian

Some video of the day

The weekend just gone saw the passing of the squad selection event for this year’s ICF World Freestyle Championships. The plan was to hold the event on Curragower wave in Limerick City, and following a phone call from the ESB on Friday afternoon confirming the requested water levels for the weekend everything was green for go.

On Saturday morning almost 50 paddlers showed up to strut their stuff and gain a place on this year’s squad. Sadly we received a phone call from the ESB saying that due to near epic rain fall over the Shannon Basin that water was now flowing Ardnacrusha dam and they had to realise as much water as possible. This ment the Curragower wave would never form, however it did bring “little Gower” into play, the decision was made to wait until 14.00 to see what the suitability of “little Gower” for trials.

During this time phone calls were aplenty checking water levels and play spots around the country. As 14.00 arrived it was apparent that “little Gower” was not suitable for completion so the difficult decision was made to move the whole event to Tarmonbarry Wave, Only after receiving confirmed reports of epic water levels. This decision was received by the competitors far far better than was expected, as everyone understood that these were special circumstances. There were calls of last minute road trip and even reports of some people getting in some late evening practice that night.

As Sunday morning rolled around in Tarmonbarry it was a testament to the Freestyle community that we had almost 100% attendance from those who had showed up in Limerick the previous days. As the conditions were Baltic and the levels were very high it was decided that the Juniors did not have to compete but they were having none of it! The completion kicked off at 11.30 and confirmed Tarmonbarry as one of the premier play spots in Ireland.

IFS Squad selections

Some video fottage from Paddy King

On behalf of the committee I would like to say congratulations to those who have made the squad and all the competitors who supported this event and made it a success. A huge thanks has to all those who judged and scribed, without you these events are not possible. A pat on the back To Orky our Completions Officer who did very well despite this being his first big freestyle event to organise.

On a personal note a Huge shout out to the Junior ladies who braved the elements and stepped up to what is quite an intimidating feature that even some of or more seasoned Seniors were apprehensive about. Also to Rory “the kid” O Reilly who put down some rides that would have placed him in the Senior men squad.

Thanks again to all who took part, and here is looking forward to a successfully Worlds later in the year.

Adrian

pro@irishfreestyle.com