Melissa Colborne: October 2013

This past weekend i took part in CASA tour stop 4 which was the final stop of the season. The event was held at Warmbaths resort in Joburg. This year the crowning of the SA champ worked slightly differently to previous years. Usually the last stop of the tour is nationals and the rest of the stops don't count towards the national title and are just individual competitions. This year you were given points at every stop according to where you placed. The 2013 SA National champ was the person who had the most points at the end of the tour.

I flew up to Joburg on tuesday with my brothers and mom. The comp was on Saturday and Sunday so we were able to get some riding time in before it started. Unfortunately Jason was unable to ride as he tore the ligaments in his ankle so he was basically "coach" Jason and chief judge for the weekend.

We arrived at Warmbaths on Wednesday and had two sessions with the cable all to ourselves. The weather was perfect and I had fun trying some new tricks. That evening we enjoyed some pizza and chilled in the hot pools.

We woke up early on Thursday and headed straight to the cable. We once again had the cable to ourselves and had one session before the rest of the cape town riders arrived. I was stoked to see them all and amped to shred with them in the afternoon. We had lots of fun between riding and spending time in the hot pools.

The rest of the riders arrived on Friday and everyone spent most of the day on the water. Friday night was quite festive with everyone getting amped for the comp the next day.

On Saturday morning we all got to have a sesh before qualifiers which started at 12. I had a good run on Saturday and won qualifiers which meant that i was last off the dock on Sunday. The level of the riding overall was pretty high and the pressure was on for finals. Most of the riders had an early night on Saturday as we had to be up early for finals on Sunday morning.

We woke up to a light drizzle and chilly conditions, but fortunately it was not too windy. Finals got underway at 9am with the Pro Men riders giving the judges a difficult task as the level of riding was high. I was very happy with my first clean run and so decided to try a raley in my second run. Unfortunately I didn't land it and ended up winning the Chad award for the hardest bail of the comp.

My first run was good enough to secure me first place. I won the Pro Tour Stop as well as the 2013 SA National Champ title. I was proud to see my little brother secure 4th place overall in the Junior Men Division. Well done Faffa! :)

Thanks to Kyle and Chantal for once again organising a sick event and for all the time and effort put into CASA. Thanks to my sponsors ROXY and LIQUID FORCE for all the support and for keeping me on the water.