mdac trip report

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.