 click to enlarge WEEK 12!!!!We are at the 12th and final official week of the 2017 HARDWATER KITING GLOBAL SPEED RANKING. It's with a little sadness that we post the 12th week results as we know it means that our season is coming to an end as we watched others loose their season over the last few weeks. We love to see how fast people are going over the season and getting reports from amazing places all over the globe!
This season, without question, Quebec was the place to be for speed and the riders up there made good use of their conditions. Guy Lebrun DOMINATED the ranking again this year followed closely by Marcel Lepine also from Quebec. Marcel narrowly pushing Guy out of the 1st place position at the end of the ranking series. A few people pushed their personal limits and got some personal bests. We had a few new riders who got to experience the thrill of speeding across the snow and ice for the first time and in their way experience what it's like to "push the envelope". I remember when I first started submitting to the Storm Boarding Ranking and how excited I was to get a new higher speed. Even if it wasn't "fast" compared to what was to come, it was nonetheless thrilling and fun as hell. This season we've had the most young riders ranking ever. Kylan Morneau, Nicholas Elliott and Nathan Brooker are entering speeds at ages 30 yrs younger than most of us. Where will they be in 30 more years? Where will kiting be? I don't know. But I do know that I'm psyched to see them in riding and seeing what they can do. They are getting into the sport at a time when the kite technology and safety is better than it has ever been. Hopefully we will see more young riders coming into it as a result. We hope that everyone had as much fun participating in this season's GSR as we had hosting it. Speaking of hosting, when I step back and think about what goes into it I think of how hard Rachael Miller (rozaliaproject.org) must have worked to put together the Stormboarding ranking. She did and amazing job. Thanks Racheal! We are looking forward to hosting it again next season. Thanks to everyone who participated and supported our speed ranking. We really, REALLY appreciate it. We will post the OVERALL 2017 ranking results hopefully in the next day. We are also going to post the overall all results for every ranking submission submitted through HARDWATERKITER.COM in the last 4 years of ranking history. It will take a little time as we filter through over 500 entries. But we think it will be interesting to see. And finally, two things. 1) If you submitted a speed to the ranking, we'd love a headshot of your smiling face for a "rogues gallery" of ranking participants. We have a few but we'd like more. 2) some riders are just getting their speed season started. We are considering doing a post season ranking that will include anyone who still has riding available and can submit speeds. This will allow us to include riders in the Southern hemisphere for the first time as well. We will post the results at the end of each month if people want to continue to submit speeds. Again, thanks to EVERYONE! You all rock and we are thankful for your support and for letting us share your kiting experiences. Seriously, THANK YOU!!!
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 click to enlarge Week 11. Our speedy friends, Marcel and Guy have battled it out this week in Quebec with Marcel beating Guy out of the top spot by .26mph! Robin Larsson of Sweden rounds out the top 3!
We have our first entry from a rider using a Paraski Flex with a respectful 57 mph speed. Very cool! A special shout out to the last but not least participant this week. Mickey O'Brien throws his hat in at 10 mph. Mickey bagged his speed during his first riding clinic with us and was working the heck out of his 6m kite on a day when the smallest kite in the air was 14m. Nice Job Micky! Next week is the final week of the 2017 ranking. Speed submissions deadline is 3.25.2017. WHen we post the final week result we will also update the overall ranking which will list everyone and their overall standing for the 2017 season. Thanks again for playing and see you all next week!  Guy Lebrun is back again in the top spot just narrowly beating out Christian Labbe by .05 mph! Making Christian the fastest snowboarder we've ever had in the ranking.
The Canadians have been dominating the top spots this season but this week Felix Kersten of Germany managed to get 3rd place, pushing out Marcel Lepine to 4th and keeping the Canadians from taking all the top 3 places. We are happy to see Petri Lehikoinen making a long overdue appearance as the season winds down. He's been one of the fastest in the ranking in past years and one of the few to break the 70mph mark. We know it's hard to find the time and conditions, especially after the last two seasons, but maybe he can get another session in and give the Canadians a run for the top spots. We want to give a shout out to Nicholas Elliott, formerly of NH and now out in Idaho throwing down some tracks. He's the youngest participant this week and one of only two riders under the age of 15 in the ranking this season. As the season runs out of time many of the U.S. participants are already on the water. For those of us lucky enough to still have winter riding conditions, please keep the submissions coming but also please be safe out there as conditions change with the approaching spring. Thanks again for all the support and we look forward to seeing what you have next week! This week's T-Shirt winner is Nicholas Elliott! A reminder, For those who have one t-shirts the previous weeks please contact us with your shipping addresses and sizes. Thanks again!  CLICK TO ENLARGE It pains us to see it but the season for many of us has either ended is is coming to a close and this week's participation shows it! BAH! Oh well, we can't fight the seasons.
For week 9 of the GSR Guy and Marcel have returned from a short absence to remind us that for 2017 Quebec has dominated the GSR and as the season winds down the pool of potential riders that can take the top spot from Guy is draining fast! It's all in good fun and Guy, Marcel and everyone else in the ranking have been giving it a good try and we are psyched to see how people have done this year in spite of some difficult conditions. You all rock! Week 10 submissions are due by 3/11/17. We will try to continue the ranking the full 12 weeks but we can't make any promises. ;-) T-shirt winner for week 9 is Robert Bocik out on Mille Lacs! See you next week!!! |
Hardwater Kiting GSRThis ranking has been created in the spirit of the original Stormboarding World Speed Ranking sponsored by Rachael Miller/Stormboarding host of the original Snow kite speed ranking and New England Kitestorm event. Archives
October 2019
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