The Grind: Extreme Wakesports and Music Festival presented by Tige Boats
AUSTIN, TEXAS - Living up to its name, "the live music capital of the world" put on a killer show of music. Not stopping there, event coordinators threw in an incredible display of extreme sports. The Grind, Extreme Sports and Music Festival presented by Tige Boats, had thousands of fans gathering together for a dose of great tunes coupled with some shredding of rails, deep in the heart of Texas. It was event number two of The Grind Series, put on by Under360, Roadway Productions and 101X, and located in downtown Austin next to the University of Texas campus.
Everything you could possibly want to see in one day occurred right in front of the legendary Lone Star at the Bob Bullock Museum, in the shadow of the state capital. Bands, beer, boards and bikinis made this event extremely hot. The sun came out and brought a beautiful 1st day of April as Young Love, Fire Kills, The Vanished, Dash Rip Rock, Young Heart Attack and the Addictions rocked the venue along with local and pro skate and wake athletes.
In commemoration to the current NCAA basketball tourney, both wakeboard and wakeskate rode in a head-to-head March Madness style rail jam. Each rider got 3 hits on the three rails available. The 4 wakeskate heats consisted of Jerry Lafferty, Jesse Landry, Bret Little, Chris Collinge, Gabe Lucas, Oury Yarbrough, Evan Lykes and Sammy Woodson. Wakeskaters were attempting all sorts of shove out variations but it was Bret Little that dropped the hammer, riding these rails more impressively than most wakeboarders, yet on a wakeskate. Bret schooled the rails by backlipping both sections of the box, and then frontlipping the upslope to frontboard the downslope on the up to gap to down rail, cleaner then any boarder, getting the best overall skate trick and earning $500 cash. Jesse Landry took home the $250 second place prize for wakeskate.
The wakeboard side of the competition saw a Sweet Sixteen with some seriously intense action. Appearing in the tourney style comp was Hank Carter, Keith Lidberg, Gabe Lucas, Witt and Holland Finley, Brad Allen, Dustin Shows, Evan Washington, Tom Fooshee, Brett Hickey, JB O'Neil, Capt. Rick Martinez, Ross Skrudland, Billy Garcia, Cody Kidder, and Blake Vorwald. The wakeboarder's were judged on best trick, bringing Golden Gopher Keith Lidberg and Longhorn Tom Fooshee to the final round. This was competition at its best. Tom started off bringing the heat with a toeside transfer to frontboard, 90 out. Keith then did a heelside transfer to backlip. Fooshee had to keep it real riding against Lidberg by then throwing a toeside transfer to front lip 270 out. Keith knew it was all or nothing in order to win the Boardstop First Place Prize of $1000. So Keith comes back with a switch toeside transfer to switch frontboard 90 out, taking the crown and the cash. Tom was not left empty handed though courtesy of the Helium Wake Second Place Prize of $250.
The Grind had it all and thanks to Wakeboarder.com and Boardstop.com for supplying the riders with a shaded Red Bull area with Wahoo's tacos for some munch. Also very special thanks to Tige Boats and The Ski Dock, 101X, Bud Light, U.S. Army, Helium Wake, Champion Scion, Woods Fun Center, Gatorboards, The 360 Wakeboard Club and all the bands that rocked during The Grind. For the official photos visit: Swami Studios.
