Big Air Friday

Today’s event went off with a bang, we had over 60 competitors to get through, with heats, semis, and men’s and women’s finals we had to start early.
Nile Special couldn’t have been at more perfect levels. The river was still up due to a huge Heads of Government meeting, which needed lots of power. This meant huge dam releases.

The men’s heats were first up and with Steve Fisher, Sam Ward, Carl Moser and the whole of World Class Kayak Academy in residence; it was set to be a display of huge aerial proportions. Tyler Bradt one of the favourites unfortunately had to take a seat on the judge’s table as he broke his foot the night before trying a back flip….. In the bar!

Due to the huge numbers and short amount of time, we had to be brutal in the cut downs, with only 14 going through to semis. The heats were outstanding, with open wave 30-minute sessions, it allowed everyone to relax, enjoy and go huge!

Next up were Women’s heats, With 14 of the Worlds top ladies battling it out. Jessie Stone immediately impressed, throwing massive Air Blunts and back stabs. Jackie Fourie, Micelle Basso and Prossi Merembe obviously impressed the judges and secured places in the next round too.

Michelle Basso came through in the Final to take the title with a massive air blunt, Morgan Koons, took a pasting on one ride but managed to hold on a pull through for second. Jessie after dominating through all the heats didn’t manage to hold on in one of the closest finals we have ever seen.

Next up were the Men’s finals with four of the World best paddlers set for a showdown of epic proportions. Carl Moser, Anton Imler, Steve Fisher and Sam Ward all lined up for the final. Sam came out strong with some bread and butters and Kys and some mean pistol flips. Anton was up next and he immediately showed he meant business. He threw some massive airscrews and helixes. Next up was that man Steve Fisher; on his home wave at near perfect levels, he went massive on all counts. It immediately came down to Sam and Steve for the 2nd year running. Sam was throwing everything at it, and was desperate not to have a repeat of last year’s scores. Unfortunately it was not to be for Sam and with one of the most amazing and closest finals the Nile has ever seen. Steve took it by the slimmest of margins.

With two more events to go and $2000 courtesy of sponsors Nile Breweries and Brussels Airlines up for grabs everyone was focussed on tomorrows big race, as focussed as you can be when the parties are sponsored by a brewery.

1st Steve Fisher (RSA)
2nd Sam Ward (Wales)
3rd Anton Imler (SWE)
4th Carl Moser (USA)

Day 2
Extreme endurance Race 45km Class 5

Today was the big race. 45km in the equatorial sun running some of the biggest white water, this has to be one of the toughest kayaking races anywhere in the World.

We had a huge line up with 15 men’s teams of 2 and 7 Women’s teams. Waking up too low levels, competitors realised just how lucky they had been for the big air yesterday. Low levels meant slower times and longer in the sun for the races however. With $2000 to fight for the paddlers were keen to get moving.

Dehydration can be a massive problem and safety is paramount, so the logistics of this race are massive. Remote water spots and first Aid locations have to be set up. Thankfully everyone got through safely, with only one team dropping out due to severe sunstroke. It was to be a Ugandan year again with Juma Kalikwani and Mtwalibi Mbozi taking the title, in a time of 2hrs 54 minutes Davey O’Hare and Tyler Bradt (broken foot now in a plastic bag), pulled in to take second. Davey a video kayaker on the Nile for many years proved he new all the fast lines on the river. 3rd was Anton Imler and Doug Mullet.
In the Women’s, South African Jackie Fourie and Uganda’s Prossy Merembe took the honours winning by a clear 20 minute margin
This leaves tomorrow’s boda boda cross as the decider on who wins the bills. Anton Imler is looking strong with Juma Kalikwani not far behind. Its going to be a tense day and interesting that the least serious event of the weekend will decide this years overall winner.

Men’s
1st Juma Kalikwani and Mtwalibi Mbozi
2nd Davey O’ Hare and Tyler Bradt
3rd Anton Imler and Doug Mullet

Women’s
1st Jackie Fourie and Prossi Merembe
2nd Morgan Koons and Anna Bruno
3rd Michelle Basso and Robyn Munford

Day 3.
Boda Boda Cross

This event, totally unique to Uganda, involves kayakers racing down The Bujagali to Silverback section of the river, running up a hill and jumping on a boda boda (50cc moped) with your kayak to race back through the Bush to the Start/ Finish Point. With 14 Women and over 50 men racing today, it was epic. Luckily there was not too much carnage.

A lot was resting on this event; the points from this would calculate the overall winner. Fantastic that the most humorous and least serious of the events would decide.

The women were up first and Prossi Merembe immediately showed her local knowledge and used the currents to her advantage to lead from the start. Morgan Koons was not far behind, but prosy was just too fast down the course and managed to pick a moped that brought her in at least 2 minutes before the rest of the pack.
The men’s was up next and with our biggest line up yet, the first few rapids were set to be exciting with a mass start.
Ibra Mugembe was pushing hard and Anton Imler, Lochie Carracher and Sam Ward were
Hot on his tail. All of these entrants had a shot at the $2000 overall mens prize. Ibra proved just too fast, and came in first to the site, Sam was right behind him. Anton who was favorite to win picked a moped that broke down!! This is all part of the race however. African mopeds tend to well used on bumpy African roads, so flat tires and engine failure were quite common.

In addition this year to add to the humour of the event, the kayak the Nile team set up assault course with rafts cover in soap and bungee cords holding up massive climbing frames. This really opened things up. You could be first of the water, first in on your moped but come last through the challenging assault course. Funnels of Nile special were also mandatory at the end of the race.

It was Ibra’s day however and he pulled through, finished his beer and took the points. This meant after correlating the weekends results Ibra was crowned overall winner and went home with the $2000.

1st Ibra Mugembe
2nd Sam Ward
3rd Mtwalibi Mbozi

Overall Festival winners

Men’s
1st Ibra Mugembe
2nd Sam Ward and Lochie Carracher
3rd Anton Imler

Women’s
1st Morgan Koons
2nd Prossy Merembe
3rd Michelle Basso

Big thanks to sponsors

Nile Special Lager, Brussels Airlines, Kayak Session Magazine, Fluid Kayaks , www.flyuganda.com, Kayak the Nile, Nile River Explorers, The Nile Flyer, Live It Love It Coaching, The Nile Porch, All terrain Adventures, The Boma Entebbe, Mantana Lake Mburu, Geo Lodges Uganda, Kyoto Uganda, Two Friends Restaurant and Bar, Nile Horseback Safaris, Nile High Bungee and many others.