Teva Mountain Games Write Up!

Photo by Philip Roberts

Teva Mountain Games‐

Held in Vail Colorado is the annual Teva Mountain Games. My very first Teva
Games were when I was nine years old, and in fact it was my first freestyle
competition! That was in 2005 back when they didn’t have the sophisticated
bladder system they have now. Without these bladders we wouldn’t of had a
competition this year. They also had to constrict the water with plywood! This
process took quite a while, so I didn’t arrive in Vail until Wednesday morning. With
the process of trial and error, they finally got the hole to a useable state.

Unfortunately even with all of the additions the feature was extremely shallow! I
found myself watching my edges with extreme care while training. I wasn’t too keen
on the idea of window shading and the possibility of hitting rocks. But even with the
risks, it was a PRO event meaning all of the pro’s sucked it up and learned to work
with what we had, and actually had a fun but cautious week of boating!

The day of prelims was Friday, women went first and I was in the second
heat. Unfortunately my rides did not go as planned, and I didn’t make the cut to
finals. But I enjoyed the rest of the event watching my friends compete, and
snagging schwag from all of the booths! I left Sunday morning and am now in Buena
Vista training in hole number one! I’ll be leaving for Lyons in the next few days, and I
can’t wait to compete in Junior Women’s again!!!(:

Lauren

Photo by Philip Roberts