After most of them clashed with whitewater during the previous day’s training, the 12 most courageous European wakeboarders competed against each other on the kayak route in Tacen at Red Bull Upstream, Slovenia’s very first wakeboard contest on whitewater.
During qualification, each contestant did three runs, with the best two being counted for the next round. The jury assessed the participants’ choice of line, tricks, style and aggressiveness & creativity.
The lucky six to move on to the finals were Nico Lerchenfeld, Norbert Vasko, Dominik Gührs, Robert Pokovec, Balász Bakró and Emilio Epstein. In the finals they each did two runs on whitewater, and they certainly did not hold back – it was a really fierce fight!
The spectators witnessed wild sliding across all kinds of rocky and concrete obstacles, one of them being a high arch across one of the “islands”.
After a tough battle, Nico Lerchenfeld (GER) won himself first place, followed by Hungarian Balász Bakró and German Dominik Gührs. Slovene rider Robert Pokovec had a bit of bad luck due to a small accident but was more than pleased with his fourth place.
“This is something completely new, we never wakeboarded like this before. The wakeboarders had to pay full attention to the water and the rapids,” explained Robi afterwards.
Winner Nico Lerchenfeld was extremely satisfied with the result: “I really hope the event will be repeated in 2009. Count me in! Awesome organization, awesome people, and niiice girls!”
