euro trip…

Hello blog

As any regualar readers (do I have any regular readers?!) will know, this past week I had the honor of going to Sweden with the UK Wakeboard team. The trip was amazing to say the least, and I think its fair to say we all had a blast! We stayed in a small industrial town about two hours away from Stockholm, called Fagersta. This quaint little town was pretty deserted, and at times it seemed like there were actually no people there! We started early on our first day with team practice at 7am and were met by an absolutely stunning glassy lake. It was mind blowing and reminded me of all the beautiful glassy water I would wake up to when I lived in Florida over the winter.

I was a little dubious when I saw that there were to be 11 open ladies in my division, and seeing a few familiar names on the running order, I knew I would have my work cut out for me if I was to do well in this contest. Over my many years of riding in contests, however, one thing I have come to learn is how important it is to relax. It’s so easy to get worked up over these things, yet I think i’ve finally gotten my head around how to play the mental game.

Cutting to the chase, on Friday I made it through qualifiers 1st in my group (go me!!) and had a couple of days to relax before the finals on Sunday. When I say relax, I mean get drunk and party. Friday’s evening antics were pretty fun, and involved a dodgy band playing in this small towns version of a night club. It was fun, what I remember of it !!

So after what felt like the longest day of rest, I was all set to ride in the finals on Sunday. With a group of 5 strong riders I knew it was going to be hard, yet I was keen to make podium. My original goal had been just to make finals, so I had nothing to lose now. I was last off the dock and managed to pull off a good run. We all knew it would be close, so when the results came through and I had gotten 3rd, I was stoked.

All in all, the week was a blast and I absolutely loved Sweden. I found that all the beautiful Swedish people were so friendly and accommodating, and made us feel right at home. Team GB got an overall 2nd place in the contest, and it was great to see so many of my fellow team members getting medals, including Dan and Charlotte who were crowned champs! Big thanks must go to our superstar team captain Stew Mackie who I think carried the nerves for all the riders, but never the less did a great job keeping us all in line Until next year….