Second-place kayak finisher Jim Wazny strokes to shore. Photographs courtesy of Sean Spangler.
Extremity Games® 5 (eX5) Main Event, an extreme sports competition for athletes living with limb loss and limb difference, was welcomed with genuine southern hospitality into New Braunfels, Texas, despite devastating floods in the town just a week before the event. The eX5 Main Event competitions, held June 18-19, included wakeboarding, skateboarding, kayaking, and rock climbing. The weekend was rounded out with sports clinics in the competition events and in mixed martial arts.
On June 18, the Opening Ceremony and Athlete Sign-In welcomed athletes and fans while officially kicking-off eX5 Main Event at the Courtyard by Marriott River Village hotel. The next day, wakeboarders hit the water and caught air at the nearby Texas Ski Ranch (TSR). Extremity Games veteran Billy Tonis owned first place with what organizers called “insane air and tricks above the wake.” Mike Schultz landed smooth wake-to-wake maneuvers to pull out a second-place finish, and newcomer Brandon Robins held and landed the longest layout to take third.
The wakeboarders’ sizzle carried over to the street-style skateboarding competition as Stephen Shope grinded every rail on the course with flare to grab first place and Oscar Loreto aired off a funbox to snag second place. Though he was the youngest athlete at the event, Alex Miller sit-skated his way to third place.
Second place climber Kelly Allen spent her 18th birthday on the walls with her competitors.
In kayaking, Schultz and Kelly Allen took first place in the men’s and women’s divisions, respectively, by creating “human powered wakes that could put some power boats to shame,” eX5 said. Jim Wazny and Brooke Artesi propelled themselves into second place, and third place was a hard-fought contest that netted awards for newcomer Jeff Waldmuller and famed snowboarder Amy Purdy.
The final competition for the day was on TSR’s rock wall. Climbers Jeff Waldmuller and Brooke Artesi scaled the walls fast enough to cause altitude sickness, taking first place in men’s and women’s divisions respectively. Alex Miller and Kelly Allen second place with the grace of seasoned climbers, and Horst Behner snuck up the final route to hold on to the third place finish in the men’s competition.
For more information, visit www.extremitygames.com or call 248.475.3623.
