Alabama Mountain Games kicks off Spring Comp Season

The 2011 event season kicked off with 75 degree weather and plenty of water for the Alabama Mountain Games – the first event of the USA Point Series  for Freestyle Kayaking.  The venue was perfect for this 4-day event – a huge field for bands and vendors surrounded by woods for a Mt. Bike trail, Disc Golf course, camping, and on-water events as well.  Highlights of the festival was the ‘slackline’ booth – with 4 different setups for different skill levels and several ‘pro’s’ demonstrating their flips, local music talent such as ‘Rollin in the Hay’, and the food vendors that kept the prices reasonable and made sure no one had to drive.

The freestyle event was over at Ender Hole:  a fluffy pour-over with subtle shoulder on one side and a shallow rock on the other.   The loops were flying high – especially in the new JK Rockstar which dominated the final results as expected.   The Rockstar features slicey and balanced ends for cartwheeling while adding 3 extra gallons to the All-star despite it’s shorter length – so it generates even more ‘pop’ and rotates even quicker!   There were many classes, from beginner to advanced to expert and pro, so I don’t have all the results but hopefully they will be up on the AMG site soon:  http://www.bwcitypaper.com/publicationreturnframe.lasso?-token.address=http://alabamamountaingames.com  .

As for the finals I recall, it was Emily Jackson taking the women’s crown with her phonics monkey over the loops of Haily Mills and Kat Levitt.   In the Men’s Nick Troutman got his mcnasty’s and phonics’s both ways to lead Jonothan Shales’s huge Space Godzilla’s and loops and my own loop series and shanked phonics.  Dane Jackson took the Junior lead – besting all other rides of the whole comp by far and then swimming at the end of his big rides to celebrate the gorgeous weather and good times.

A good time was had by all, and it was still going all weekend with SUP, Disc Golf, Fishing, and even a ramp competition right in the main event center.    For those that missed it, see you next year!

Clay