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The first slalom competition on this year's calendar was well attended with a total of 23 slalom skiers from all over the country arriving at Skeggy during the week. Some arrived early to soak up the sun and holiday atmosphere others arrived on the Friday night for practice and the traditional Skegness evening entertainment. For those of us who camped the weather turned colder and with a sea breeze blowing on the Saturday morning it was going to be a test of nerves and skill for the competitors. The slalom course is unconventionally on the straight between corner 5 and 1, which means the skier has one full lap to enter the course from the entrance off 5 corner to number one buoy situated opposite the start jetty. This provides a good viewpoint for spectators watching the skier enter the course. The weather and the nerves told on some and only one skier Aaron Farley went into short lines getting 3 on a 12 at 55k to win the competition. Damien Wilson skied into 58k to take second and I managed 4.25 at 55k to take the third place just ahead of Charlie Lambert who showed how her training is paying off. One local skier Nathan Taylor amazed everyone by taking 8th place with 4.5 at 52k after only putting a slalom ski on a couple of weeks before the comp.
Their were eleven trick skiers and again local skier Nathan Taylor who with a little help to fill a trick sheet in prior to the competition got 580 points which was a great achievement considering he didn't know the names of the tricks he could do, With a shortage of officials Aaron opted to judge rather than ski which opened the door for Steve Hamblin to take first place with 1740 points followed by myself with 1320pts and the return of Mark Powley to cable skiing after a two year absence with 930 points taking third.
After the comp the visitors took the opportunity to make use of the local amenities with Camel racing, Crazy golf and roller coasters providing alternative entertainment lasting well into the night. Talk of a September competition is in the air so keep an eye on waterskiskeggy.co.uk for updates.
Slalom Trick
- Aaron Farley 3.00 @55/12.00 1.Steve Hamblin 1740
- Damien Wilson 5.00 @58/18.25 2.Monty Byers 1320
- Monty Byers 4.25 @55/18.25 3.Mark Powley 940
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