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those of you who have been coming to BarefootCentral every day looking
for the on-line video coverage, all we can say is SORRY!! We
intended on doing it again this year, but due to many reasons, mainly
lack of motivation in ourselves and our volunteers, we decided to pair
it down a bit and focus on pictures and daily reviews. We will be
sure to capture the final rounds of Open Mens Tricks and Wakes, as well
as the Open Womens tricks and wakes. So stay tuned. Until
then, enjoy the cool pics and daily reviews. We'll be a day
behind, so please be patient. It takes a while to edit all the
pictures.
The 2005 US Nationals kicked off again in Austin, Texas. This is the 2nd time the event has been hosted by the Austin Barefoot Club. The big talk around Texas in the summer is usually the hot weather and southerly winds. This year was no exception. The weather forecast was for scattered thunderstorms throughout the day with variable winds, and that's exactly what we saw. Some events saw smooth calm water and other's saw a fair bit of chop, but overall, the water conditions were much more consistent than in 2004. We showed up at the Nationals with our new traveling pro shop. The guys on our promo team had no idea we were bringing it and were quite surprised to see themselves in bigger than life size. Had it packed with more equipment than we've ever brought to a barefoot event. We had plent of Eagle, BI, Intensity, FlyHigh, and US Gear equipment. Michele was busy all day and thanks to the help of Debbie Williams, Marissa's mom, she was able to handle the traffic.
The excitement of the day came with the Open and International Open skiers took to the water for the tricks event. There were several international skiers in attendance, including Heinrich Sams, Ben Harris, Paul McDonald, and Matt Harris. Heinrich is the 13 year old phenom from South Africa, Ben Harris is from Great Britain, and Paul McDonald is from Canada. As the Open Men's tricks started, the
winds calmed and the lake glassed off. What resulted was some
amazing skiing. We got to watch Willie Farrell do some amazing
360s, 540s and 720s. He's an inspiration to us all. He's 50
years old skiing head to head against guys half or a quarter his age and
still dominating the field. Ron Scarpa and Keith St Onge each had
amazing runs posting 8300 plus runs. One notable upset was Lane
Bowers. He fell on a toe front during his second pass which put
him out of the final rounds. The competition is so tough this
year, the Open Pro skiers have to be at the top of their games to even
have a chance of making the final rounds. |
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Photos taken on Day 1 |
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 RESULTS
FROM DAY 1
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