This summer our colleague Aisling Griffin was part of the Irish team to participate in the Surf Kayaking World Championships and Freestyle Kayaking World Championships.
Surf Kayaking is the sport of surfing ocean waves, similar to surf boarding but in specially designed surf boats with fins. This year the Surf Worlds were held at Pantin Beach in Galicia, a beautiful part of Spain with great waves and excellent surf conditions. The competition is held in 19 minute heats with surfers trying to execute the most radical controlled manoeuvres in the critical section of a wave. At the end of the heats the surfers two best waves count towards their final score. On the day of the finals, Aisling and the Irish team put in a superb performance to finish 4th overall in the team event, with Aisling then going on to the individual final where she again put in an excellent performance to finish 7th overall in the World.
Freestyle Kayaking is a discipline of whitewater kayaking where the paddler performs various technical moves in one place, as opposed to downriver whitewater kayaking where the objectives is to travel the length of a section of river. The moves and tricks performed during competitions are often similar to those performed by snowboarders, surfers or skaters with the athlete completing spins, flips and turns. The World Championships were this year held in Garberator on the Ottawa River in Canada. The competition consists of four 45 second surfs on the river wave with each participant aiming to perform as many tricks as possible within the time limit. Each riders best two surfs make up their final score. Aisling competed in the individual event at this years worlds and put in an outstanding performance to finish 34th in the World.
Mallon Technology would like to congratulate Aisling on her fantastic success at both the Surf & Freestyle World Championships, we are all very proud of what she has achieved. Next year’s World Championships take place in Northern Ireland and Brazil where I am sure that Aisling will be looking to better her fantastic results from this year. If you would like to see Aisling in action during the Freestyle World Championships make sure to check out the video below.
