Local charities benefit from Wakeride weekend
Adrenalin junkies in Saskatoon got their fourth dose of WakeRide at Victoria Park this weekend. The festival featured three days of demonstrations from top athletes in the world of extreme sports, all to raise funds for local children’s charities.
In the three years since the first WakeRide, the festival has gone from just having wakeboarding on the river to featuring freestyle motocross, BMX and skateboarding as well as a three-section long slider pool.
“We’re really getting out there. It’s becoming one of these events people are really looking forward to every year,” said Gregg Bamford, co-founder and president of WakeRide. The three previous WakeRides brought in a combined total of $95,000 for the causes they supported. This year’s total hasn’t been determined yet, but all proceeds will go to KidSport, White Buffalo Youth Lodge, Dream Brokers and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Saskatoon.
On top of the direct donations, the festival further encourages activity in kids with its family zone, which featured 22 different organizations this year.
“A lot of the kids in this neighbourhood have never tried (these sports) or don’t know where to sign up for them. So they can come down and actually get involved,” said Bamford.
Bamford put together the first WakeFest with Mike Napper, who owns Backside BoardShop in Saskatoon. Through the shop, Napper had a previous relationship with Rusty “Bone Crusher” Malinoski, a professional wakeboarder originally from Humboldt.
“Mike Napper was one of my first sponsors ever,” said Malinoski, who went from summers spent as a teenager on Stoney Lake near Humboldt to a professional career that included a world championship in 2008.
“Growing up in Saskatchewan, we had short summers. I got the opportunity to try it, and absolutely fell in love with the sport. It was a true passion. I never looked back. That’s all I wanted to do,” he said. Although he has several amateur and pro victories to his name, he is perhaps best known in the wakeboarding world as the first person to land a 1080, which is three full rotations in one jump, in competition.
Now living in Orlando, Florida, Malinoski is always excited to come up for WakeRide and bring some of his professional rider friends.
“This event is super cool to me just because it’s like my hometown, and the group of guys that put it together are amazing,” he said.
For the pro wakeboarders, the event is a nice break from competition.
“We have a really busy year. This is one of the first weekends I’ve had off since April. It’s mostly contests. We don’t really do too many of these things,” said Shawn Watson, an Orlando-based pro. This year was his third time making the trip to Saskatoon.
“It’s definitely nice to be able just kind of go out and have fun and have no pressure. You get to just kind of go on and have a good time and hang out with good people and know that you’re going to have a good time without having to throw down a hard run,” he said. According to Bamford, it’s not difficult to keep the athletes coming back once they’ve been to Saskatoon once.
“It’s a beautiful city. We’re pretty laid back people in Saskatoon that just want to do things for the right rea- sons. They see that, and they just want to be part of it,” he said.
After WakeRide’s biggest year yet, he doesn’t see it going anywhere but up.
“I think this is our ‘hitting the next peak’ year. After that it will just keep on going,” said Bamford.