Thun Semis

Here we go again, another final sat on the sidelines! This time I couldn't quite get my blunts going, I think the 'fear of flush' factor was in there (again) and with just one throw-away ride I played it too safe instead of spending time setting up properly to get blunts - therefore I just got roundhouses meaning I dropped from 2nd to 7th, just behind Querine Wegman (NDL). Top 5 were Emily Jackson 1st - with some nice blunts, back stabs and a clean spin (I think - though I wasn't really watching!), Ruth Gordon, 2nd, got some blunts and back blunts, Mariann Saether took 3rd, Lenka Novotna 4th and Jutta Kaiser 5th. 

 In the C1 semi Dave Bainbridge, who had won the semis and was last to go caught his front end on his first ride so he had to do it all in his 2nd. This didn't prove a problem though and once again took 1st place with his 2nd ride. Lee Pyke also made the finals in 5th. 

The junior men were throwing down some big moves, Sebastian (Fra) won with lots of big stuff! 

Earlier in the day there was a quarter final for the men - I wasn't there so I'm not sure what happened, but 10 guys made it through to the semis and 10 probably started drinking beer. There were lots of big names fighting to get into finals and it was going to be tough to make the cut. In the end it was the top 5 from the quarters that stayed the top 5 going into the finals though there were some interesting rides. Nick Troutman threw down some air screws, helixes and clean blunts to score nearly 900 points giving him 1st place, quite a long way ahead of the next 4 who all scored between 520 and 540 points. It looked like EJ, who'd made 6th in the quarters, may have been up there after his 2nd ride, but although he had some nice big back blunts his McNasty didn't land straight and for whatever reason his helix didn't score. So, to the surprise of both himself, the commentators and the crowd who all thought he'd scored more he came away with less than 300 points. OK, beer and partying for me tonight, then straight after the competition we have to hoof it up to Calais to be ready for work on Monday morning :( (don't think I'll make it there until Tuesday)  It is going to be a huge shock teaching 30 5-year-olds after 3 weeks of paddling and travelling...

I'll post some photos tomorrow.