On September 13th, Red Bull threw an experimental wakeboarding contest that was designed to redefine the sport by utilizing a groundbreaking course that featured a state of the art pulley system.
Red Bull enlisted the help of X-Games winner Parks Bonifay to host the event and pick a select group of 24 of the top wakeboarders. Dubbed the Red Bull Wake Lab, basically a “wakepark”, was designed to push the riders to new levels.
Over 20,000 spectators came out to witness the revolutionary event which took place in downtown Orlando. The Wake Lab was an elevated pool with elements that featured skatepark-style rails and sliders.
Another pioneering move of this event was the selection of judges. The panel included freestyle snowboarder Pat Moore, Skate Park of Tampa’s Ryan Clements and on the wake front, wakeskater Brian Grubb, Shawn Perry and Chris Bischoff.
The riders in the event included:
Parks Bonifay, Shane Bonifay, Adam Errington, Danny Harf, Collin Harrington, Keith Lidberg, Gabe Lucas, Aaron Rathy, Josh Sanders, Chad Sharpe, Shawn Watson, JD Webb, Olivier Derome, Mike Ennen, Clay Fletcher, Tom Fooshee, Kevin Henshaw, Robby Jacques, Keith Lyman, Rusty Malinoski, Shaun Murray, Erik Ruck, Phil Soven, and Yannick Thidbault.
RED BULL WAKE LAB FINAL RESULTS
Prime Component (Best Trick): JD Webb
Spontaneous Combustion (Most Creative Run): Aaron Rathy
Proven Theory (Best Overall Run): Oliver DeRome
—Chris Eudaley
