Awesome week at Hurley.
This was a perfect end of this year competition season.
We drove to Hurley GBR one week before the competition has started.
From the last year when we were there first time we know that the wave is really good so we wanted to paddle there is a hundreds of paddlers.
It was great week. Weather was quite good and we could paddle twice a day.
As the days came closer to event the more and more paddlers showed up. You could see paddlers all around the Europe and even one American :) Paddlers from 16 different countries came to compete together, have a fun and fight for the honor to be on the top three podium.
Saturday morning started with the GBR selections where the international paddlers could take the part as well. You had three rides and the best two counted. After the water level has dropped a bit the organizers had to switched the gates and open only two instead of three. It was quite tricky to get used to it so fast and some competitors had a little troubles.
I didn’t paddle that wave before but for my surprise I didn’t have any problems to paddle it. I did my routine as I train it before and it worked for me well. I end up first and was pretty happy and satisfied with my results. Peter wasn’t that lucky and didn’t got to the top five and finished 9th. All the top five K1W and K1M paddlers went to night VIP final which was meant to be a great show for all the spectators. It was a great night show where all the paddlers showed their great level of skills. It was thrilling to watch. At the end I got second.
On Sunday was planned the Hurley classic event. The competition went with session system so the heat of 10 paddlers had 25 minutes to show their best moves. Each trick could be shown only one time. I did almost everything what I wanted and went to final from 3th position. The heats were mixed with all categories and it was interesting to watch. Final started at 5 and it was dark already so we competed under artificial light as well as the day before. The organizers switched the gates for final so we had three gates opened. I had quite good first ride but flashed out so I didn’t do everything what I wanted. Anyway it was good ride and it secured my second place at the end. Claire O’Hara took 1st and Marlene Devillez took 3th. The men’s final was very interesting to watch. Till the end you couldn’t tell who will be first or fifth. It was really tough fight and there wasn’t big difference in the scores. Steven Wright took 1st, Quim Fontane 2nd and Mathieu Dumolin 3th. Peter was 4th and miss it only by few points. But I think everybody had great fun. It was the last event in this year for almost all the paddlers and I think they took it little bit easier and had more fun while competing. I am already looking forward for the next year!
Thanks to Jacko Jackson for organizing such a great event :)
See you next time.
Nina
