Posted by WG Laura
August 22nd, 2010
Check out the video here.
Fans lined the shores of the Orlando Watersports Complex today to catch the final rounds of action at the 17th annual ROCKSTAR WWA Wakeboard World Championships, presented by Supra. Pro riders from throughout the globe spent the day competing for world titles, with the results from the Pro Men and Pro Women’s divisions also deciding the winners of the King of Wake and Queen of Wake series.
The Pro Men’s division proved to be one of the most exciting finales in the WWA World Championship’s 17-year history. With top seed Harley Clifford failing to advance past the semifinals, Danny Harf, Trevor Hansen, Dean Smith and brothers Phillip and Bob Soven faced off in the five-man final.
All five pros threw down impressive runs, but Aussie Dean Smith made the biggest impact on the water to take home his first-ever world title. Phillip Soven and Trevor Hansen rounded out the Pro Men’s division podium, respectively.
“This is so sick, I’m the world champion for the next 365 days” said Smith. “Going into the finals, I didn’t know what would happen, but I just put it together out there and won.”
With today’s win, Dean Smith becomes the first Australian native to win the world title in the Pro Men’s division.
Phillip Soven’s second-place finish today placed the Longwood, Fla. at the top of the King of Wake standings, earning him his third crown in four years.
“I wanted to finish off the season with a win, but I’m not going home empty handed, I still won King of Wake,” said Soven.
In the Pro Women’s division, the top professional female riders in the world faced off in six-woman final for the world title and deciding points toward the Queen of Wake series. Despite light rain and wind, top seed Nicola Butler laid down the most impressive run of the day, which included a transfer back lip onto the funbox, to win her second world title in three years.
“I didn’t ride my best, I had a couple of falls, but I was stoked about my transfer,” said Butler. “It feels awesome to win.”
With today’s win, the England native finishes the 2010 season at the top of the Queen of Wake standings – Butler’s second crown in three years.
“I had a bad year in 2009, so to come back this year and win Queen of Wake is like redemption,” said Butler.
Reed Hansen took first place today in the Pro Wakeskate finals to win his fourth consecutive world title.
“Worlds is my favorite contest, so to win it four times in a row is pretty amazing,” said Hansen. “The other guys in my heat really push me to ride better and win events like today.”
Pro Women – Final #1
1. Nicola Butler GRB 81.67
2. Amber Wing AUS 75.00
3. Raimi Merritt USA 65.00
4. Hayley Smith AUS 56.67
5. Melissa Marquardt USA 50.00
6. Meagan Ethell USA 41.67
Women’s Wakeskate – Final #1
1. Jen GilanFarr USA 70.00
2. Kristine Gagnier USA 61.67
3. Kiyoka Fujihara JPN 43.33
4. Cassandra Scott USA 35.00
Tags: Amber Wing, Hayley Smith, Jen Gilan Farr, Meagan Ethell, Nicola Butler, Queen of Wake, Raimi Merritt, Worlds
Posted in Events, General, News | 1 Comment »
Posted by WG Laura
August 22nd, 2010
Check out the video here.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 21 – DAY 3 RESULTS:
Names in bold move on to the finals.
Pro Women – Semifinal #1
1. Raimi Merritt USA 68.33
2. Melissa Marquardt USA 60.00
3. Emily Copeland Durham USA 50.00
4. Anna Hajek USA 35.00
Pro Women – Semifinal #2
1. Amber Wing AUS 76.67
2. Hayley Smith AUS 65.00
3. Tarah Mikacich USA 56.67
4. Ashley Leugner CAN 40.00
5. Emylee Wright USA 30.00
Pro Women – Semifinal #3
1. Nicola Butler GRB 80.00
2. Meagan Ethell USA 66.67
3. Bec Gange AUS 50.00
4. Megan Blaschka USA 43.33
5. Corrie Dyer USA 33.33
Pro Women’s Wakeskate – Semifinal #1
1. Jen GilanFarr USA 75.00
2. Cassandra Scott USA 60.00
3. Kristine Gagnier USA 46.67
4. Kiyoka Fujihara JPN 33.33
Tags: Amber Wing, Anna Hajek, Bec Gange, Hayley Smith, Meagan Ethell, News, Nicola Butler, Queen of Wake, Raimi Merritt, Tarah Benzel Mikacich, Wakeskate, Worlds
Posted in Events, General, News | No Comments »
Posted by WG Laura
August 19th, 2010
Republished with permission from Hayley Smith’s Blog. Read the original post here.
Since getting back to Orlando from Knoxville our house has been flat out with Amber’s boat running over time with juniors, amateurs, veterans and pro riders coming to ride behind the Supra. Then of course the ladies of the house getting our sets in, focusing on new tricks and linking together our contests passes!
Bec has been riding really strong and is looking confident on her board adding a roll to blind to her bag of tricks, which includes a tootsie roll, ts and hs 540, ts and hs backside 180′s. If Bec keeps everything together she will defiantly be a solid contestant in pro women!
After the latest Pro Tour win Amber is determined to throw down even harder this weekend, with the possibility of having Whirly, Moby dick, Pete Rose, hs 540 and and ts 720 in her pass! ridiculous! When Amber is ON this is what she can confidently bang out free riding!
I have hopes of getting down the new tricks I have learnt this year, with a mix of glides, front side and back side spins, front flip and a toes side back side 360 which is the newest trick in my bag.
We all have some work cut out for us to keep progressing throughout the heats with Nicola, Raimi, Emily, Melissa and Anna all doing their own thing and making it hard for the rest of the field. The woman’s division is looking really healthy with a lot of competition as this is the last contest of the year every single one of us is going to focused with their mind set on having a good final performance and push for a podium position.
Watch out ladies, the Aussies girls are here!!! hehehe
Tags: Amber Wing, Bec Gange, Hayley Smith, Worlds
Posted in General | 2 Comments »
Posted by WG Laura
July 17th, 2010
Sparks, Nev. – Emily Copeland Durham is one the most highly decorated pro female wakeboarders in the world, but in 2009, the Denver native decided to put her career on hold to start a family and give birth to her first born child. Now nearly a year and half since her last professional contest, Copeland Durham returned to the pro wakeboard scene today by hitting the waters of Sparks Marina for the Pro Women’s division quarterfinals at the Air Nautique WWA Wakeboard National Championships, presented by ROCKSTAR.
“I’m just excited to be back out on the water, doing what I love,” said Copeland Durham. “The other girls have stepped up their riding so much since I last competed, but I’ve been training and my goal is to finish within the top three in the contest.”
Copeland Durham’s first shot at a triumphant return came today, as she finished second in her heat, advancing onto tomorrow’s semifinals.
“I was a little nervous about riding, but felt I had a good run today,” said Copeland Durham. “Now that I got my first run out of the way, I’m feeling a little more confident going in to tomorrow.”
Should Copeland Durham advance in the semifinals and win her division on Sunday, it will mark her second national title since 2001. Coincidently, Sparks Marina was the site of her last professional win, back in 2008.
The Pro Women will hit the water again tomorrow, July 17 at 11 a.m. for their semifinal round of action.
Top 3 Riders advance to Semis.
Pro Women: Quarterfinals – Heat #1
1 Amber Wing 60.00
2 Shawna Hoffman 48.33
3 Anna Hajek 41.11
4 Bec Gange 35.00
Pro Women: Quarterfinals – Heat #2
1 Meagan Ethell 65.00
2 Hayley Smith 56.67
3 Megan Blaschka 48.33
4 Tarah Mikacich 38.33
Pro Women: Quarterfinals – Heat #3
1 Raimi Merritt 73.33
2 Emily Copeland Durham 56.67
3 Raequal Hoffman 40.00
4 Emylee Wright 30.00
Pro Women: Quarterfinals – Heat #4
1 Nicola Butler 73.33
2 Melissa Marquardt 61.67
3 Shelby Kantar 48.33
4 Corrie Dyer 40.00
5 Danni Petraitis 26.67
Jr. Women: Semifinals – Heat #1
Top 4 Riders advance to Finals
1 Katelyn Fenner 63.33
2 Tori Koch 54.17
3 Leah Gibney 48.33
4 Nataly Conner 40.00
5 Jasmine Lally 25.00
6 Delanie Parker 18.33
7 Kimberly Kirch 18.22
Tags: Amber Wing, Anna Hajek, Bec Gange, Hayley Smith, News, Nicola Butler, Raimi Merritt, Tarah Benzel Mikacich, WWA Nationals
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Posted by WG Laura
June 20th, 2010
You could call him the Masseur to the Stars. His healing hands have worked on the sore muscles of Wakeboarding’s elite athletes. However, Justin Candelora, of Own2Hands, is not one to knead and tell. In fact, he was very coy when I asked him to name names. Suffice to say that, if it’s good enough for Amber Wing (and Dallas Friday, and Hayley Smith, and almost all of the Pro Women), it is good enough for me.
Justin got his calling at the age of five. There was a massage therapist that lived across the street from him, and he used to go over and massage the knots out of her neck. The first time Justin did this, his neighbor came over afterwards and told Justin’s mom “Make SURE he becomes a massage therapist.” You can say that he has the magic touch.
As an athlete himself, Justin saw a need for sports massage. He claims that “we all break down the same way, athletes just do it a lot faster and with a lot more trauma.” He is trying to integrate the benefits of therapeutic massage into the world of sports. The goal of regular sports massage is to make the body move with less effort, remove adhesions and increase the range of motion.
A lot of sports injuries may be prevented with the proper sports massage techniques. Justin mentions that a lot of the pro women understand the importance of taking care of their bodies, and he’s trying to get through to the pro men the fact that stretching and massage has to become part of their regimen in order to prevent certain types of injuries.
Even non-athletes can benefit from sports massage. As Justin says, “Life’s a sport. Don’t play hurt.” As a desk jockey, I can attest that his healing hands work wonders on us common folk! To book an appointment, call Justin at 407-616-4756 or visit his website. You will be glad you did.
Tags: Amber Wing, Dallas Friday, Hayley Smith, Justin Candelora, Sports Massage, Tips&Tricks
Posted in Articles, General | 2 Comments »
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