Wavesport Sluice Rodeo 2010

Saturday 16th October the Skys were clear and the sun was slowly illuminating the quiet tranquil river Liffey, in a small village on the outskirts of Dublin the countries freestyle paddlers were descending. From novice through to seasoned international they came.

The sluice as it is affection known is Dublin’s premier play spot it is seen as the marmite feature with mixed feelings between the locals who love it and everyone else who hates it but respectfully try it

The feature itself is formed by the river Liffey once in flood the water constricts through an old sluice gate wall forming a hole/wave feature allowing opportunity for all freestyle tricks.

Competitors travelled from all regions of the country to participate in one of the biggest events of the year,

As the mist Rose the water flowed with a good 2.5meg release from the Leixlip dam the banners were raised the music was beating through the trees and the flashes of colour mixed with the White foam meant the arrival of paddlers ready to lay down their best tricks and moves to take home the win

The heats kicked off with the junior men, this was probably the most hotly contested event of the day with the Sluice Crew really out to prove the local advantage and this they did with well defined rides huge loops and big cheers they really let the rest of the field know they were at home. That said there were 18 junior men the largest category by a long way with a few new faces to competition coming from far and wide, Cork, Kilkenny, Sligo all their to cause an upset.

The heats kicked off with huge loops cartwheels and waves to the judges with the juniors mixing new school tricks with old school fun, showing the crowd what they love to do best.

After the junior men the junior women got underway with a straight final between three young friends the whole competition took a fun format in the way of 15 minute jam sessions between 5 paddlers with a score sheet made up of variety including both tricks and fun elements. This Format allows a lot of pressure to be taken off of the paddlers and gives people the chance to try bigger and more complex tricks with only the 5 highest scoring moves counting.

The Girls Final as always was a close affair with Caoimhe just pipping her sister Emer and good friend Niamh into 2^nd and 3^rd respectively.

The Sport classes followed suit with a new category for this year the Masters comprised of over 35’s with a fun feeling about the event the guys took to the water to strut their stuff with loads of paddle spins, waves, rail grabs and even the odd air guitar the scores were bound to be close. This year Garvan Smith a local lad (over 35) took the win in his first competition having been paddling just over a year and spent many hours over the summer “sluicing it up” Garvo really showed what this event is about lads with big smiles paddling with friends and no one could deny the fun and energy of the whole event.

The Women’s expert was another low attendance meaning that it went into a straight final only problem all three Ladies managed after 15 minutes to walk away with the SAME score meaning the prizes had to be shared amongst the three! Last heat up was the Expert men this is really where the men and separated from the boys, After the juniors heats the men really had to be on their game to prove why they are the experts and this they did with some high scoring Rides from Tom Dunphy and Adrian Durrant entertaining the crowd the experts really worked the feature proving that experience and practice really does help in a tricky feature like sluice even in perfect levels its nothing like any other feature and takes some knowledge to really tame it! The men showed their class with huge space Godzilla’s and air loops even the odd donkey flip going in for good luck the rides were linked with big aerial blunts and flurries of ends. From to cool and controlled style of Ronnie to the high powered, fast rotating rides of Wongy. The men’s heats had it all.

During a short interval in the main competition saw the 2^nd Sluice Old School Rodeo with Dancers and whip-its showing massive pop outs and vertical enders even the usual swim from Kevin gave the event the fun it deserved that linked with the classic music meant everyone had a blast.

Out of the heats the Top 5 were to be pulled out to the finals in the afternoon these kicked off with the junior men.

Of the final five lads 2 were locals and part of the increasingly famous “Sluice Crew” would this home advantage really pay off,

Robbie showed that practice makes perfect with a high scoring 265 landing loops and blunts with great vision and skill the 2^nd place also fell to a local lad in Alan Murphy who was Junior League winner in 2009 and in 3^rd place a new lad on the scene Billy Brett from Kilkenny. With all of these lads they are still improving quickly with many of the senior men now standing up to take notice of them.

Next was the women’s expert, Due to the numbers this was a straight final but unfortunately all three girls were evenly matched all scoring 110 points and scoring exactly the same tricks meant that the three of them had to share the spoils

Due to time and numbers the only Final left was the Expert men having cut the field from 13 to the top 5 the final commenced for a spectator this was to be the highest scoring final with high scoring tricks being landed and linked both left and right, leaving blurs of colour for the spectator to savour, For a competitor this was 15 minutes of fun and friendly banter watching a master class of some of Irelands top paddlers lay down moves rides. The event was hard fought again with the Local Lads coming out on top with Tom Dunphy 100% Sluice Nut, coming out on top with a huge score of 450 in second place Adrian Durrant event organiser and team manager. Managing to stick some big points to keep ahead of the field. In 3^rd place Moogie a monster of a man paddling a Gui Gui, showing glimpses of how big a composite boat will and can go in the Dublin Sluice.

After the finals was time for the Boater X this is a fun event whereby ALL the paddlers start upstream paddling down and through the Sluice with the first one making it to the bottom eddy winning, In writing this sound easy, in reality theirs 50 paddlers forcing their way through an 8ft gap and did I mention spray decks were banned!

This caused some massive upsets with Derek Polo Conway taking the victory in a slalom boat brought along just for the occasion in 2^nd was Ger O Reilly my head rescue ranger for the day and in 3^rd was Niall (I beat my son) O Broin, in an epic race with the majority of the field submerged or filling it was a photo opportunity not to be missed!

The Evening Party was held at The Canoe Centre, Palmerstown and sponsored by Wavesport Ireland, we had a warm marquee with the world renowned Rough Stuff Bar what more could you ask with the tunes beating until the following morning and the kegs flowing. The party did its job and rounded off a truly amazing event for all.

The Event could not have happened without the help of

The Irish Canoe Union

South Dublin County Council

Fingal County Council

And our Event Sponsors

Wavesport Ireland

I-Canoe.Com

Kayakhut

Track and Trail

East Coast canoe and kayak

Munster dive and canoe

Junior Men Sluice Rodeo 2010 www.sluicerodeo.com
Place	Name	Points
1 Final	Robbie O Shea	265
2 Final	Alan Murphy	215
3 Final	Billy Brett	210
4 Final	Ciaran Martin	105
5 Final	Niall “Mclovin” Cockbill	75
6 Heats	Tom Gallione	150
6 Heats	David Mclure	150
6 Heats	Daniel O Broin	150
9 Heats	Eoin Keyes	145
10 Heats	Shane Little	140
11 Heats	Paul Deering	105
12 Heats	Eoghan Dunne	100
13 Heats	Conor Macken	90
14 Heats	Donal Ryan	80
15 Heats	Luke Healy	75
16 Heats	Osin Mchugh	70
17 Heats	Adam Doyle	55
18 Heats	Daniel Murphy	50

Junior Women Sluice Rodeo 2010 www.sluicerodeo.com
Place	Name	Points
1 Final	Caoimhe Farrell	100
2 Final	Emer Farrell	95
3 Final	Niamh Cleary	90

Sport Men Sluice Rodeo 2010 www.sluicerodeo.com
Place	Name	Points
1 Final	Andrew Reegan	120
2 Final	Eoin Hurst	100
3 Final	Ken Hynes	85
4 Final	Derek Conway	80
5 Final	Kevin Denny	30
6 Heats	David Higgins

Sport Women Sluice Rodeo 2010 www.sluicerodeo.com
Place	Name	Points
1 Final	Aisling Goff	90

Masters O 35 Sluice Rodeo 2010 www.sluicerodeo.com
Place	Name	Points
1 Final	Garvan Smith	135
2 Final	Richard Reid	110
3 Final	Bernard Walsh	105
4 Final	Niall o Broin	95

Expert Men Sluice Rodeo 2010 www.sluicerodeo.com
Place	Name	Points
1 Final	Tom Dunphy	450
2 Final	Adrian Durrant	380
3 Final	Alan “Moogie” Moore	360
4 Final	Colin Wong	355
5 Final	Barry Loughnane	240
6 Heats	Ronnie Brennen	265
7 Heats	Dave o Sullivan	200
8 Heats	Peter o Sullivan	195
9 Heats	Mark Ahern	170
10 Heats	Eoin Farrell	165
11 Heats	Mickie Barry	115
12 Heats	Neil Niall Quinn	95
13 Heats	Kevin MCcabe	45