Another sunny day here in the Philippines, but a special day!
Chilling is the word out here...and isn't just a word. All riders were offered a Yoga session with Tita Licop early in the morning, before the first runs. After one practice run, the 64-person Open skateboarding bracket was started.
Tension, stress, and joy invited themselves in the afternoon as we started the quarter finals in Opens.
Many options could be considered regarding who will be crowned IDF Asia Pacific Champion, considering the tiny difference in points between the two contenders; Mitch Thompson and Harry Clarke.
Those two were so far in advance of the other contenders that the match was between them only. There were only 9 points separating Mitch and Harry; one had to beat the other to be crowned...and they met in the Semi-finals.
As Consolation finals were on course, a crash happened in the Luge consolation Final, comprising Australian luger Dennis Zen Andrado and French Julien Fouchard. Both riders collided before Moon Rock turn and went straight ahead out of track, sliding through some steep bushes and stopping their slide some meters down in the trees.
Ambulance and civil services immediately took care of them in concert with the organization staff. They were brought to hospital and Julien Fouchard was able to come back at the awarding ceremony after X rays showed no fractures. Zen had to stay for the night at the hospital because of broken ribs but was overall safe. Unfortunately night had fallen by the time the ambulance returned (a safety requirement), and no more racing could be done.
For safety reasons, and according to rule 6.15.1 of the rulebook, we had to cancel the race as the brackets were not completed. The results of the race were based on qualification times.
But even if the results and points are taken from the times trials results, a lot of racing happened before the accident which was worth watching, and we want to describe it here.
Here is a synthesis of what happened in each discipline:
Luge
Abdil made it again…he is the Asian IDF Luge Champion. Nobody could stop him this week. The battle here in Asia was more between german Ulrich Becker and his french neighbour, Olivier Gerling. Finally Ulrich Becker got second and Oliver got third. They were to meet in final and it would have been interesting to see if last week scenario could happen again.
Juniors Skateboard
Andrei Ibanez had showed real talent in qualifications and seemed to be more experienced than his colleagues. He wins the race. Riley Young who had the 2nd time gathers enough points to be crowned 2019 IDF Junior Asian Champion.
Masters Skateboard
Benjamin Hay was unstoppable too this week. With 3 victories, he takes the title of 2019 IDF Asian Master Champion. In the semis, Benjamin and Peter fritz made their way easily. They were to meet Caloy Sambrano and Jyun-Wei Fan. It would have been a kind of remake from last event final.
Women Skateboard
Emily Pross won with no surprise. But French Lea Richard, would had set second time during qualifications, was also qualified for the final. They were to meet Elissa Mah and swiss Annina Bruhwiller.
The new 2019 IDF ASian champion is Elissa Mah.
Open Skateboard
The Asia-Pacific title was decided in the first semi-final. Mitch was leading, closely followed by Emily. On the corner before the entrance of the protective zone, Emily could not avoid Mitch and crashed into him. Both fell, letting Harry Clarke Fly towards his first major Title: 2019 IDF Asia Pacific Champion.
Emily acknowledged her mistake and was given 4th place. Mitch was given 3rd place…he knew it meant the title would not be for him. Mitch accepted Emily’s apologies and behaved with wisdom after such a disappointment. In the second semi, Chase Hiller and Davis Lanham advanced to the final while Morgen Owens and Josh Evans were sent into consolation final.
We were really excited with such a Final and Consi to come, but unfortunately, we could not run them in the conditions of safety we all expect and we had to stop the race. Once again, as said, we applied the rule and the points of the event will be awarded upon qualifications rankings.
Harry Clarke wins his second race in a row, as Seaside was his first win too, and becomes 2019 IDF Open Skateboarding Asian champion.
