March 28th saw Event 1 of the Irishfreestyle calendar for 2009 take place - the first in the National Freestyle League, as well as doubling up to form the first event in the Freestyle National Championships. The competitors met up on the slip way beside Curragower Falls on the River Shannon in Limerick on a cold morning that even gave us some hailstones. At around 11, the ESB opened the dam, increasing the water level as the tide dropped, so the wave began to form. After everybody had registered and had their competition briefing, people started to get changed. The format for the competition was that all competitors got four attempts to catch the wave, with your best two runs counting.

First to take to the water were Mens Sport, Junior Mens, and Mens C1. There were some really nice runs from all competitors, and as per usual some of the junior men were throwing down moves that would put the seniors to shame!

After they were finished, the Mens Expert class took to the water. There were some amazing runs from these competitors. It was great for spectators as all kinds of moves were being thrown around including pistol flips, huge blunts and donkey flips.

After the men were finished strutting their stuff on the wave, it was time for the ladies! There was a good turn out from the girls at this event, with Womens Expert, Junior Women and Womens Sport each taking their turn to show off. Again, all the competitors had excellent runs, including one particularly "interesting" line down through Curragower!

It had been decided by the organisers before the event started that the final results would be taken from the heats, as time was tight, and we were not certain of enough water for a second day to the event.

A huge thanks must go to all the organisers. This was a very well run event, despite many people's initial doubts about whether they could magic enough water out of a sky that hadn't rained in weeks, the Irishfreestyle committee managed to produce the goods! Hopefully this will be the first successful event of many in this years calendar.

And on a personal note - fantastic to see such a good turnout from the Cork gang, with 4 prizewinners among them!

All photos thanks to Donie McLoughlin, more here

The results were as follows:

Mens C1: 1st Niall Quinn, 2nd John O'Rourke
Junior Ladies: 1st Caoimhe Farrel & Emer Farrel, 2nd Niamh Cleary.
Junior Mens: 1st Rory O'Reilly, 2nd Tim Kiernan, 3rd Corin King.
Ladies Sport: 1st Irene O'Brien.

Men Sport: 1st Paraic Scanlon, 2nd Stephen Noonan, 3rd Adrian Tanner.
Ladies Expert: 1st Kim Siekerman, 2nd Siobhan McG, 3rd Muireann Lynch.

Mens Expert: 1st Moe Kelleher, 2nd Mark Leonard, 3rd Len Kelleher.

Kayaksurf Event 1

March 14th saw Event 1 of the Surf Kayak calendar for 2009 take place.
A 9:30 meeting at Spanish point car park had us all looking at messy surf and trying to decide which break to visit. After some humming and hawing the decision was made to hold off until the afternoon so our meeting was adjourned and we all went for tea in Wayne's house.
Later in the day, we made a trip to Hegarty's, a nice break with a savage strong rip current between Spanish Point and Lahinch.
The tide was moving in on the beach, the reef was getting covered, and some heavy sets were rolling in.
We took to the water.

There was some difficulty getting out but those who made it out the back were rewarded with steep take offs and nice big waves with long rides.

The Short Boat and Long boat classes of Mens, Ladies and Juniors all went off with some great rides, hilarious beatdowns( the spectators dream ) and some close encounters of the rock kind.
An awesome day was had.

A big congrats to the new Juniors on the scene who braved the conditions that were intimidating to even the well seasoned surfers.

The waveski event took place on the sunday which i missed, but i'm sure it was a blast.
A massive thanks to the organisers of the event also, Morgan O'Sullivan and Wayne Timmons and anyone else involved.

The sponsors Munster Dive and Canoe for the prizes, and Watertech Kayaks for the demo boats on hand.
Results and info on more events can be found at www.paddlesurf.ie and info on surf kayaks, waveski's and gear can be found at www.mdac.ie
Great event, chilled atmosphere, i'd recommend everyone give it a go.