Concrete Classic

Photos

Hey mate, the held at Penrith Whitewater Stadium (Sydney,
Australia) was held over the weekend with paddlers from all over Oz making
the treck. First up was the Ball Race which has to be by far the best
kayaking event around as it features a great deal of carnage. The objective
is for teams of three to get a giant inflatable ball down the course and the fastest team wins. A stack of teams go at the same time so it becomes a bit
of a free for all. Our team consisting of Ben, Liam and myself ripped up the competition and took first place home with a great finishing effort by Liam.

Now we can say that JK truly has balls.

In the beginner freestyle event, old school made a fashionable come back
with air guitars and paddle twirls featuring heavily. Such an awesome event
for those just starting out as rolls and swims scored points.

The boatercross event was sponsored by Entropy Gear and after my Boatercross training Boatercross with EJ and the JK team, I was a little bummed that I
had to run the event instead of participating, however it was great to
watch.

The advanced freestyle event was held on three successive waves as they are
all a little flushy, but still good features. Some great moves were thrown
down and I was stoked with equal second place.

Finally ‘the gift’ race was close and looked like a yard sale. ‘The gift’ is a no deck/no sprayskirt race down the course. I think they call it the gift
as the course gives you the gift of pain. If you make it past the first few
features upright, then you are doing well.

Here are the results.

Ball Race:
1st Place Team: Jez, Liam, Ben
2nd Place Team: Dave, Jimbo, Frase

Beginner Freestyle (Adult):
1st Place: Jimbo
2nd Place: Raj
3rd Place: Mick

Beginner Freestyle (Junior):
1st Place: Declan

Boat-a-Cross:
1st Place: Fraze
2nd Place: Boz
3rd Place: Dave

Boat-a-Relay:
1st Place Team: Chris, Declan, Boz

Advanced Freestyle (Adult):
1st Place: Andre (26.5 points)
2nd Place: Jez & Russ (19 points)
3rd Place: Boz (18.5 points)

Advanced Freestyle (Junior):
1st Place: Liam (21 points)
2nd Place: James (16 points)

The Gift Race (deckless):
1st Place: Liam
2nd Place: Andre
3rd Place: Russ

A great time was had by all and nearly $2000 of prizes were given away on
the weekend. Thanks to Ben and Elise from Wavemonkey for organizing an
awesome event.

jez