Imperial smashes it at UniWake

Imperial’s Wakeboarding society competed at local waterhole Liquid Leisure on March 2nd against eight universities. With 100 students hitting the water in less than comfortable temperatures – the competition took real dedication to the sport. Imperial brought eight people to compete including two girls (good ratio).

In the Beginners Men’s category, social secretary Gary Willis showed he was more than just a pretty boy in retro 80s jackets. Pulling some sick moves on the kickers and a few tasty boardslides, he came 1st in the category. In the Beginners Women’s we had two riders – Danielle ‘the nutter’ Barnes and myself. Danielle safely landed the funbox, but sadly the allocated time for this round of the competition had closed and it didn’t count towards the judging. No placers here but still some promising improvements – watch this space! Intermediate Men’s saw Tim ‘Timmy’ Thio placed very respectably in second. Antoine Desmet, our only competitor in the Advanced category, was up against some stiff competition. Although his flat water tricks are the real deal, his 180°s off the kickers didn’t cut the mustard, shame.

As the sun was setting, the Wakeskate category started. Picture being towed by the cable on a large skateboard around a lake. This is not something the team have been familiar with. Still, no strangers to try the new and wacky Jan Jachnik, Gary and Tim gave it a go. Jeered on by the rest of the team – these guys just went for it! They may not have been spectacular but they were the most entertaining ones out there! So finally, Timmy also won a bonus award for Most Entertaining Photo of the Day – don’t try this one at home, kids. Join Wakeboarding instead!