CARP – It was the first time the City of Ottawa has ever played host to a wakeboard competition. Even more surprising, it was in Carp.

Evolution Wake Park, a wakeboard training facility located on a beautiful manmade lake just off Carp Road in the Carp Road Corridor, hosted Ottawa’s first ever wakeboard competition last Saturday (July 20).

The inaugural event is part of the Ontario Wake Series but does not count for points in the championship series.

It was a beautiful day to be on the water. It was officially Ottawa’s hottest day so far in 2019, the sun was out, and it was an atmosphere of competition and comraderie, as athletes, friends, family, sponsors and spectators all mingled on the small peninsula that served as the stands and the launch point of for competitors.

The competition involved athletes being pulled 600 feet along a pulley system, through a straight course filled with obstacles, rails and jumps for competitors to attempt tricks off. At the end of the 600-feet, athletes turned around, without a dip in momentum, and were able to come back through the course in the opposite direction, doing even more tricks. Each athlete received two runs. The competitors are judged on their runs and are placed accordingly.

Evolution Wake Park’s Jordan Sien took a quick break from hosting the event, and competing in the event, to speak with a sweat-drenched West Carleton Online.

“It’s going amazing,” Sien said. “We got a great turnout and a great mix of riders and skills.”

The event had several classes of competition from amateur to advanced. Male and female riders of all ages competed, some as young as 10-years-old.

“Although it is a competition, it’s also a way to introduce people to the sport,” Sien said. “There’s a good community of riders here. It’s nice to see so many like-minded people come together.”

Sien said several competitors came from Toronto and Peterborough, where the sport is more firmly established, but many are from the Ottawa area as well.

“We even got two exchange students from France who came to give it a whirl,” Sien said.

Many athletes competing today, we’re advanced riders, but just getting in to competition.

“We’ve got a couple up and comers,” Sien said. “Ryan Zelter who trains here occasionally, and Cameron Spalding, who is visiting us for the first time, are not even 15. They’re young guns for sure.”

Sien says the Carp competition is part of the Ontario Wake Series and the first of three cable-system stops in the series. The cable series don’t count for points in the provincial series but are a great opportunity for athletes to work on their skills in a judged environment.

Aside from the wakeboard competition, there was lots for spectators and volunteers to do. Several took a swim and nearly sunk a dock they could watch the event from. There were lots of door prizes and a giant Jenga competition with the winner receiving a pair of Sandbox sunglasses. After the water competition, everyone was invited to take part in a friendly skateboard competition on the quarter-pipe skateboard park erected for the event.

“Now we hang out and enjoy for the rest of the day,” Sien said.

When asked if there will be a second annual Evolution Wake Park wakeboard competition Sien says “Absolutely.”

Sien says the park has a few other huge events coming up this season. A friend has recently been diagnosed with cancer, and the Evolution team will be planning a fundraiser for that. August marks the park’s second anniversary, and you bet the team will be celebrating that as well.