HARDWATER KITING GSR '16 WEEK 12 RESULTS

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WEEK 12!!! FINAL WEEK!!!
We made it! 12 whole weeks in a winter that barely happened!  
Week 12, do or die time for anyone looking to beat their best speed for the season.  Guy Lebrun has dominated the number 1 spot of the ranking since the first week and finishes the 12th week in the number one spot.  Hardwater Kiting owner Chris Krug was a close second place but in spite of his efforts he couldn't catch Guy before the end of the ranking period. We were surprised to see Petri Lehikoinen, fast Finn and overall winner of last season's GSR, "pop up" and take the #3 spot for week 12.
Well done everyone! 

OVERALL RESULTS.

At Hardwater Kiting we are psyched to see the level of support and participation we've had in this season's GSR.  Many past participants hardly even saw winter this season and were denied good conditions to ride let alone participate in the GSR.  But a few people managed to get a session or two in and we were lucky enough to still get entries from all over the globe.  Many new faces this season and some new top contenders to keep an eye out for next season.  

Congratulations to the top three competitors.  Guy Lebrun of Quebec came out on top with his top speed of 70.87 mph/114.05kph managed to hang onto the top spot as fastest overall. Guy spent time as the fastest some weeks and the slowest other weeks.  He is a good example of how "the speed thing" works in snow kiting and that even if you are the fastest, sometimes luck isn't on your side.  It was fun watching his speeds over the season.   

Chris Krug managed to close the distance on Guy but couldn't catch him before the end of the ranking period.  Almost!!!  His efforts got him into the #2 spot and squeezed Gary into the #3 position. Chris is the only rider in the top 3 that was on a foil kite.

Gary Kjelleren rounds out the top 3 this season and has been in the top 3 every year. Had winter cooperated a bit more this season who knows where he would have finished. As always we are happy to see Gary's speed in the ranking and he never disappoints.  Petri Lehikoinen almost got him.  ALMOST.

In the top 10 Molly Savard narrowly squeezed out Paul Morse for the # 9 Spot by .4mph.  Both she and Paul were on the Ozone Access V6 6m kites and have similar weight ranges.  This was very close to "one design" competition in the ranking. Molly got a really good day last week and got her fastest for the season, and beat Paul.  We also had Randy Berube narrowly beat out Robert Cook by .10 mph knocking Robert out of 6th to 7th.  Again, similar kites and conditions.   

We want to mention Jim Cline.  Even though he got pushed out of the top 10 this last week, at the time this was posted, he has 2000 miles logged for the 2015/16 snow kite season. If we had a mileage category, Jim would likely own it every season. 

Micheal Olsen is our fastest boarder for the season with a top speed of 47.8mph/79.92kph out on Lake Dillion, narrowly beating out Jason Yetley who was the fastest boarder in the ranking much of the season. Jason's top speed was 46.4mph/74.67kph on the Mississippi river which we find pretty dang cool.

A shout out to Chrissy Zobitz, the only other female participant in this season's ranking.  Chrissy was one of the many Mid-West participants in this season's ranking and we are impressed how she's progressed over the season. Molly and Chrissy show that girls can ride too and hang with the boys. We hope that their results will encourage more women to enter the ranking next season.  

Our youngest rider in the ranking was Nathan Brooker age 12 from Vermont.  Nathan with a speed of 19.7mph/31.7kph beat out his dad Kevin by a little bit over 2mph and comes in as our second fastest kiter on skates.  Our fastest kiter on skates was Doug Scieszka with a top speed of 24.2mph/38.94kph.

We will be contacting the weekly winners for their T-Shirt sizes and shipping addresses next week so keep an eye on your emails!  
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We at Hardwater Kiting want to thank everyone, all 50 riders, who participated in the 2016 Global Speed Ranking and helped maintain the fun factor that we like to see in the GSR.

We also want to thank everyone for their support, patience and enthusiasm in a winter season that hardly even happened.  Thank you to all the new faces this year and all you old faces from years passed. :-) 
YOU ALL ROCK!!! 
We will see you all again next season