The 2017 South Central Region Tournament of Champions was held this past weekend at the legendary Blue Mile Ski Lake in Beaumont, Texas. Fun was had by all even with summertime afternoon storms rolling through the weekend.
Friday, the Austin Barefoot Ski Club hosted a junior development clinic alongside site
familiarization. Landen Ehlers, Jimmy Taurus, and Lauren Ehlers got four kids out on the seahorse and introduced to barefoot waterskiing.
Saturday morning the tournament started bright and early with the slalom event followed by the trick event. The 4,300 foot long lake stayed glass calm all day until the open men’s and womens trick event were wind conditions caused some of the top skiers to falter. Then a large storm rolled through which caused jump to be postponed. Sunday morning the water was buttery again and all nine jumpers had a blast.
Highlights for the weekend include pending Slalom records by Jim Rollins and Jimmy Taurus, an 18.9m jump PB by Landen Ehlers, as well as several new barefooters (Adrian Adams, Reagan Burns, and Kenny Parker) competing for the first time at Regionals thanks to the Austin Barefoot Ski Clubs “Newby’s Ski Free” sponsorship.
Officer elections at the Regional meeting resulted in Landen Ehlers continuing as Executive Director, Mark Shank moving up to Director, and Chad Sullivan becoming Reserve Director.
Overall the tournament was a blast and went off without any hitches.
The South Central Region is alive and well!
Submitted by Landen Ehlers, South Central Regional Director
American Barefoot Club 