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Results from the Fat Face Night Jump 2008

John Tully from Ireland won the Fat Face Night Jump last night to the resounding cheer of over 1,500 spectators who had made the journey to JB Waterski from all over the UK.

Food, drink, music, a compere, tons of waterskiing and wakeboarding, including the Fat Face to Face Waterski Salam, kept everyone entertained throughout the day, as the sun burnt through and the excitement built for the main comp which started at 8pm.

Now in its second year the Fat Face Night Jump consists of competitors jumping off a large ramp and over a bar, which is raised a little higher in every round, to the raucous applause of the crowds! The competition is extremely important to all the riders because as well as a substantial prize pot of £3,000 the competitors are also competing for international ranking status, with the IWSF (International Waterski Federation EAME region (Europe/ Africa/ Middle East)).

John Tully cleared the final bar at 4.15 m, beating last year’s champion and local lad ‘CK’ Koester and Richie Heiney – all of whom train at JB Waterski. John walked away with £2,000 of the prize money which he was absolutely delighted with. A lack of funds from this unsponsored sportsman meant that he actually had to compete with a broken board as he could not afford to replace or mend his!

John commented upon his win: “Unbelievable, I'm on top of the world right now. It was nerve wracking watching CK come round for the final jump but it was great that in the final round I was competing against two of my best friends. Awesome!” ‘CK’ echoed this competitive camaraderie: “Although I didn't win, I think it was more fun than last year and it's great to have three friends, all from Thorpe, all competing - and now Richie, Me and Irish (John Tully) have all won it which is awesome. I've been a bit injured, I'm very tired and I couldn't get the height so it was great that one of these two boys won it. “The event is really good fun - one of the best events of the season. I travel round the world doing competitions and this is one of the most fun and most thrilling. I love it!”

The women competed against one another in the ‘Big Air’ consisting of a kicker with judges – who commented on the extremely high level of entrants - marking on technical skill, height and landing. Suze Clist took the women’s crown in this event and also went on to compete in the Open High Jump event. She explained: “It was amazing to win the women's comp, but the icing on the cake was competing with the guys in the open. The event is fantastic and the girls are doing some amazing stuff at the moment. It's great they've got the chance to compete against the guys and hopefully this'll attract more girls to the event next year.”

In the kid’s comp which was held earlier in the day, it was the Epsom wakeboarders who were hogging the podium places! First place in the boy’s comp went to 12 year old Sam Cordery who explained: “I’m really happy and surprised and did better than I expected to, especially as it was quite windy.” Taking the crown in the Girl’s Comp was 11 year old Katie Rowling from Epsom, fresh from winning the nationals, who explained: “I’m really, really happy to have won. It was a bit choppy and hard to ride but I enjoyed it.”

The Fat Face Night Jump is the fourth stop on the Night Series tour which also takes in skiing, sailing, surfing, mountain boarding, mountain biking and windsurfing – across the UK. Ian Williams, Fat Face Event Manager comments: “The Fat Face Night Jump was a massive success and our thanks to JB Waterski for putting on such a fantastic event, the competitors for putting on such phenomenal displays and the spectators who created such a brilliant atmosphere, cheering the riders on.”