GB and Hurley Classic!

El fin de semana pasado estuve en Londres, donde se celebraba la Hurley Classic. Salí el miércoles tarde, y al llegar nos fuímos a remar un poco en la oscuridad con mi colega Doug. El jueves por la mañana hicimos otra pequeña sesión, pero por falta de lluvias el spot dejo de funcionar para guardar agua para la competición del fin de semana, así que hicimos planes y el viernes muy temprano por la mañana, como a las 3 o las 4 salímos con Doug y Mark hacia Langollen, en el norte de Gales. Al llegar allí James y Josh estaban esperandonos para remar en el río Dee, completamente crecido!

Last weekend I went to visit some friends in GB and as well paddle in the nighty Hurley Weir! I left home on Wednesday afternoon, after a really busy week with not so much sleeping due to school, to Luton, where I got picked up by my mate DougMeister! And off we were to Hurley at 9pm, where we had a little but cool paddling session on the dark. On Thursady morning we had another little session early morning on two, but by the afternoon the weir was on one, so nothing... Luckily there were some epic rains in Northern Whales, so on the next morning, we woke up at... I don't remember.. 4am?? and with our buddie Mark we drove all the way to Langollen, where James and Hosh were waiting for us to paddle on the flooded Dee!! Flooded Dee, Town Section! DougMeister in da wave! Mark and Josh! El día estuvo muy bien, el río estaba llenio de olas, rulos... fuímos a ver una ola más abajo, pero estaba un poco pasada de agua y costaba sacar trucos.. aún así pasamos un gran día en Gales, y a media tarde empezamos la vuelta a casa, después de unas buenas empanadas y buenas colas en la carretera! It was a really nice day, with a cool flooded river, with lots of playspots, some of them really good, wave trains, holes... We also went to check out another wave downstream... it was good, however it was quite hard work to pull some tricks. He had another run on the Dee, which was already droping a bit, and by three, after 12 hours non stop, we got some sick pies and started the drive back home, of course we had some great traffic jams!

Langollen train station and the Dee! Al día siguiente, sábado, nos levantamos tarde, bastante cansados del día anterior, y desayunamos mózamente! Iba a ser un día de descanso, pero luego decidimos participar en los selectivos para el equipo de GB en Hurley. On the next day, Saturday, we woke up late, around 10:30, and had a really nice breakfast! It was going to be an easy day, but then decided to enter GB selections in Hurley, so we rallied all the way to the wave and entered the event. The competition was won by Sam and second was Pickey, I ended up third after not so good rides and some missed moves... El sábado por la noche comimos un típico plato inglés, Game Pie, y pasamos una buena noche en Marlow! El domingo se disputó el Hurley Classic, donde después de unas buenas mangas conseguí finalizar en primera posición! On Saturday evening Doug cooked a great dinner, game pie, and we had a great night in Marlow! On Sunday morning we woke up slowly and headed to Hurley, where due the good rain that was falling was on three gates, making it super nice! The event went well, however it was cold and rainy, and after a couple good rides I managed to win! After the competition we all had a cool session where everyone was pulling big moves and just enjoying this great spot. Hurley on three!! We had a little session on Monday morning as well, with Doug, George, Matt and Mark, and then I headed to the aiport to fly back home and get ready for my exam just after my plane landed in Spain... crazy! Thanks a lot to DougMeister and all his house mates, Mark for such nice driving to Whales and Luton, the organizers of the event, Jacko and some more, and everyone else, it's been really good! Thanks everyone, see you next year! For more info check: http://www.tvfreestylers.co.uk/ and http://adidas-sickline.com/ Photos by: Doug Cooper, Mark Childahouse and Brandon Hepburn.