Hurley Rodeo finally made a return, after several failed attempts with no water. This year though, water levels were high… almost too high!
The event was very laid back and ran in 30 minutes “jam-style” heats; giving everyone several opportunities to score those high point tricks and try to link them together for combo-bonuses. With the Thames so high, Hurley was on a very high 4 gates which was actually fairly difficult to get onto and certainly hard to do flowing rides to score those combos. Despite being super hung over (and looking greener than should be humanly possible)? from the previous night’s? SUCC Xmas Party, Andy pulled off some huge loops and finished Saturday in 3rd place – ahead of current GB #1, Jon Best and? current Junior World Champ (and local boy) Alan Ward? and many more!
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As dusk fell on Hurley, the fun really began with the “if it floats” competition. Sailing boats, rafts and body boards in the swollen river made for some great entertainment to finish the day.
On Sunday they put Hurley down to 3 gates, but the river was still very high. At least today everyone was able to get on the feature! Despite heats of random sizes, no finals? and a long gap between the last heat and the prize giving; I think everyone had fun. Andy finished 4th; winning himself a Wavesport Cag for being top unsponsored paddler. He was deservedly chuffed!? I also finished 4th.
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It was nice to go to an event of a diffent nature and format to that? of most other competitions, but the scoring system did reward a single moment of glory / luckiness over consistancy of any kind as? it took your best day score; which was made up of your best 4 move scores.? The laid back atmosphere allowed for everyone to enjoy the event on a par, which was nice to see.
All my photos of the event are on letsgetwet.co.uk. For full results check out www.kayakojacko.com. Sky Sports were there filming, so keep an eye out for footage!