Qualifiers for the WFC and the IFC Have Begun!!

Tension is building among flowriders around the world as this weekend marks the  beginning of the series of events leading up to the biggest flowriding event of the year, the International FLOW (Flowriding League of the World) Championships, otherwise known as the IFC.

The IFC is an international competition held on both the FlowRider and the FlowBarrel with competitors riding on bodyboards, prone and drop knee, and flowboards, strapped and strapless. This year, the event will take place in Singapore at Wave House Sentosa.

Wave House venues including San Diego, Chile, Durban and Sentosa will be holding qualifying events to determine which riders will represent their venue/country at this international event.

Wave House Durban had their first qualifier for the IFC Champs yesterday and the results weren’t surprising to say the least. Namely, Wes Fischer destroyed the strapless and FlowRider division and Matt Lammers rode in a league of his own in the strapped. Billy Tennant dominated the bodyboarding competition while Marta Jekot rode levels above the other female riders.

The results followed suit with the predictions as these 2009 IFC World Champions have been putting in the hours and are looking to be the likely candidates for the 2010 South Africa team. These guys are hungry to retain the trophy!

On the girls front, Marta Jekot had no serious competition. Two of the top girls are injured, another is in Cape Town for a few weeks and other top riders will not be available to compete in Singapore due to school/university commitments. As a result, Marta is in strong contention to return to Sentosa with her last year’s World Champion team mates. With any luck she'll put in a bigger performance in 2010!

Two new teams have been invited to compete in this year’s IFC; Wild Wadi from Dubai/United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the International WFC Champions team, which will be comprised of the world’s best riders of the FlowRider.

The World FlowRider Championships (WFC), making it's worldwide debut this year, is an international competition held on the FlowRider, with competitors riding on bodyboards, prone and drop knee, and flowboards, strapless only. The regional WFC teams are made up of one male stand up rider, a female stand up rider and a bodyboarder. Many of these teams are well on their way to being determined as the US FLOW Tour has completed 12 of 16 stops and Europe and Asia have scheduled their qualifying competition dates set for September. The International WFC Team that continues on to compete in the IFC will consist of the top two stand up riders, the top female stand up rider and the top bodyboarder from the WFC event.

Similarly, winners of the respective IFC qualifiers will form four person teams. These teams will meet the WFC winners in Sentosa, Singapore on November 5th, the first official day of the International FLOW Championships

Wave House San Diego will host the first of two qualifiers on August 7th, while Chile and Sentosa will begin their competitions in September. Keep an eye out for the second round of the qualifiers in Durban and the latest results of the qualifying competitions going on at other Wave House venues.