World Record Broken at the Fat Face Night Jump!
Some top names and some unknown riders battled it out under floodlights for the title and glory as the Fat Face Night Jump Champion. The event was wakeboard High Jump!
The day started with a Kids Comp on the cable at JB Waterski where Fat Face Team Rider 10 year old Jack Battleday came close second to the older and more experienced Freddie Carter in the boys division with Tor Young taking first place in the girls.
The adult qualifiers got under way in the afternoon and with a kicker height of 1.3 metres the guys were getting some serious air where the bar started at 3m. By the time it got to 3.5m we were down to the final 10 who would compete at Night.
The women went out after the qualifiers for a Big Air Comp where Fat Face Team Rider Jess Hilbery – who flew back from Florida especially for the event - took first place with Aliysa Gibbon, Sophie Cordery and Julia Haley all coming 2nd equal.
In the "Fat Face to Face Slalom" that took place on the Arena lake after the Greater London and South East regional championships, it was Alex Anthony who took first with an 11metre pass from Steve Godwin.
At 22:00 to the blaring theme tune from "Rocky" the 10 Night Jump finalists took to the cable for the opening round at 3.5m. The format was simple go high or go home! If the bar came off and everyone else made it you were out. This is a completely different discipline from any normal wakeboard event as it really comes down to shear size and density of your balls!!
The bar was raised in stages of 20 cm and we lost at least one competitor a round as the riders were illuminated by floodlights and flame throwers! Junior World Cable Wakeboard Champion Nick Davis (one of the favorites) was knocked out early on at a height of 3.9m.
From 3.9m there were only three riders left in it and they all sailed over 4.2m (the previous record). Now going up in 10cm increment the atmosphere was electric and the crowd were literally cheering the riders over the bar. At 4.5m Richie Hiney, the defending champion, hit the bar whilst both Nick O’Brien (an unknown from Exter Uni) and local lad Christien "CK" Koester were well clear.
It was at the next and very impressive height of 4.6m that Nick just clipped it whilst CK still had about half a metre spare! So it was local hero CK who took the New World Record, the £2,000 prize money and the title of Fat Face Night Jump Champion to close out the night.
All in all it was an incredible event and Fat Face would like to thank all the riders of the day for putting on such a great display of disciplines and the entire team at JB Waterski who all worked so hard to make it happen.
Check out the pictures and short highlight video on the right.
For more information or to give feedback on any of the Night Series events please send an email to nightseries@fatface.com.
