European FLOW Championships 2011 Round-up

With the World FLOW Championships in Durban less than a month away Saturday 10th of September was an important day for European Flowriding. One day of competition by the end of which the European Flowriding team would have been decided.

Held at Flow House Bedford and sponsored by freesport brand Animal.  The day was an amazing success and saw the overall standard of riding increase from last year.

Most competitors arrived on Friday the 9th and took full advantage of the 4hrs of practice time provided by Flow House. As each of the riders took to the wave, some for their first visit at Flow House Bedford, the atmosphere was one of excitement. And rightly so right from the first practice you could see that this year’s European competition would be interesting with competitors from 5 countries, bringing a wide variety of styles and tricks.

Saturday’s competition had 38 competitors all wanting that top spot in their respective divisions. The preliminary rounds lasted most of the day until the final 4 in each division had been decided and it was just the finals left.
Although not competing for a spot on the European FLOW team the junior competition is definitely worth a mention. Through out the semi-finals the competition had remained close at the front of the table but moving into the finals local rider Sam Atkins stepped up and produced several blistering runs that included nozzle slides, fastplants, spins and shuvits, securing him the top spot in the Junior Flowboard.

In the Open Bodyboard it was a three-way battle between Gethin Walters, Ben Stephens & Neil Harrison. In the end though it was Newquay’s Gethin Walters who took the top spot earning himself a place on Team Europe.

In the ladies Flowboard division last year’s European winner Morwena Berry once again took the top spot. It was close though with two of the competitions best runs coming from Jodie Le Maistre and Ruby May Ellam. In the end a mix of experience and consistency won out as Morwena retained her title.

Finally the Men’s Flowboard saw the return of last years 2010 International FLOW Championships runner up Quincy Vlijtig. The guys were certainly ready to fight it out though with stunning runs coming from across the field. At the end of the day it boiled down to just 4 riders Joonas Wikberg (Sweden), Max Walraven(Holland), Sam Butler (UK) and Quincy Vlijtig(Holland). The atmosphere surrounding the final was electric with all the guys laying down some incredible runs. It was however local rider Sam Butler who took the top spot defining himself above the others with not only regular tricks but also the addition of switch tricks to his runs.

Sam joins Gethin and Morwena to complete the line up for Team Europe who will now attend the International FLOW championships in Durban SA courtesy of Animal Worldwide Freeride.