Second Team Trial's Event , Sluice

Last weekend was the second event of this years team trials which took place in Sluice. There was a good turn out on the day with with plenty hoping to make a spot on the team. I finished 3rd in the first event so was hoping to build on that and make the team.

I was drawn in the first heat along with Neil Gibson, Tom Dunphy and Bowsie from the men's expert class. Unfortunately, I didn't have the best of rides flushing on loops and spent a lot of time paddling back up the eddy. Tom put in some great rides with blunts, cartwheels and back stabs but it was Neil Gibson who who took took the win on the day storming back after his disappointing finish last weekend to take a place on the team.

In the second heat Dave o Sullivan and Moogie made it through over the two events to make the top five along with Tom, Neil and Bowsie.

Orky showed his improvement in the C1 class with some solid rides despite suffering from shoulder pain after milling himself on his bmx during the week. He put in a great run on his second ride sticking an Air loop, blunt and round house.

 So after the two events i finished 6th in the standing which leaves me being a reserve for the team. It has opened up my summer paddling plans a bit so in the next few weeks I am going to decide where to head to. I am thinking of heading to Canada for some play or heading out on the Continent for a road trip with the creak boat.  As well as that I will be competing in the Adidas Sick line World Championships at the end of September in Austria before heading back to Africa for few months to avoid the Irish winter. So the the rest of the year should be fairly interesting on the paddling front.

Next weekend the first round of the National Championships is taking place at Curragower wave in Limerick. Water levels for the event are a bit unsure at the moment but hopefully it will go ahead. That's about it for now. Will throw something up if National Championships go ahead next weekend.

Some more photos form Sluice below.

Team Trials Event 1 : Clifden

Last Saturday was the first team trials event for qualification for this years World Championships taking place in Plattling Germany. Twenty two competitors took part on the day to try get the chance to represent Ireland this summer.  I had been hoping that there would have been water for this event to take place in Tuam so I had been doing most of my training there. So when the forecast came through and it looked like there wasn't going to be any water I decided to head out the Friday before the competition to get some practice in. The tide wasn't that big on Friday so the hole ended up being pretty flushey for most of the session but it did pick up for about forty minutes around high tide which gave me a chance to get some good practice runs in.

The following day I headed back out to Clifden for the competition. It was divided into two heats of eleven paddlers, I was drawn in the first heat along with Moogie, Neil Gibson, Conor Bredin and Eoin Keys from the senior men's class. When it kicked off the hole was still a bit flushy, that with some nerves on my part left me with just a loop after my first ride. Before my second ride I loosened up with some flat water cartwheels, loops and felix's which helped me put together a much better ride. I managed an air loop, split wheel, cartwheels, felix and some spins,  I went for some space godzila's and mcnasty's too but didn't manage to score them.

The second heat started as soon as everyone from heat one was off the water to judge and scribe for the second heat. From senior men's there was Bowsie, Tom Dunphy, Ronnie and Dave O Sullivan. Tom put in two solid rides with some nice air loops and space Godzilla's with the others not far behind him.

As soon as the second heat was finished everyone jumped on the water and with the pressure being off, people started throwing out their best rides of the day. I definitely need to get more competition practice in as the two forty five second runs leaves no room for a slip up.

After the hole died off everyone gathered in the car park for results. I managed to finish 3rd with Tom taking the win and Bowsie second. Full results are below as I remember them. I will update them once the full results are published on Irish Freestyle if I have them wrong.

Next Weekend is the second team trials event in Sluice up in Dublin. Hopefully I can put in a decent performance and make the team again this year. Top five make the team so I have a little bit of breathing space but not much. Then the following weekend there is a Gower Event, think that could be the first round of the National Championships but not to sure on that.

Hopefully I will get out boating a few times this week before round two of team trials. Below are the results from Round one,a video Eoin Keys threw together and some more photos from the day.

Unfortunately I cant remember results from the juniors but I will add them once they are posted online.

All Photos courtesy of Eoin Keys

Results Team Trials Event 1 : Clifden

1. Tom Dunphy
2. Bowsie
3. Barry Loughnane
4. David O Sullivan
5. Ronnie 
6. Moogie
7. Neil Gibson
8.  Eoin Keys