The Texas Ski Ranch (TSR), New Braunfels, Texas, hosted Extremity Games® 7 (eX7) Main Event for the third year in a row. Adaptive athletes traveled to the heart of the Texas hill country to compete in, participate in clinics, or watch exhibitions in mountain biking, skateboarding, powerlifting, kayaking, rock climbing, wakeboarding, and mixed martial arts, from June 22-23.
On Friday, June 22, eX 7 kicked off with exhibitions and clinics, including morning offerings such as a white-water kayak clinic and a wakeboarding clinic. The AMP1 stand-up basketball team was also in attendance showcasing their skills on the court.
Photographs courtesy of Eric Robinson.
Saturday is when the expert and novice athletes had a chance to “put their game face on.” Elite athletes were competing for cash, while novice athletes competed for prizes.
Saturday’s events started-off with a cross-country mountain bike race, with the course designed by Aaron Foreman, MSPT, CPO, Orthotic & Prosthetic Technologies, headquartered in Austin, Texas, who also provided the Extremity Games with on-site O&P tech support. In the transtibial division, last year’s champion Andy May continued his reign taking first place, Greg LaKomski took second, and Ruben Macias rounded out the division in third. Stephen Buchler of Germany continued his reign as the transfemoral division champion with Peter O’Brien taking second. Newcomer Jim Santangelo helped create the new spinal cord mountain bike division and claimed first place.
Powerlifting made its debut as a new novice competition for eX7 this year. Wounded warriors had an impressive showing. Kedgerick Smith took first place in the overall competition by powering up 350 pounds, John Pepin took second with 320 pounds, and a lift of 290 pounds earned Javier Gutierrez third place. Lucio Guerra won the one-arm dumbbell press putting up 160 pounds.
The eX7 Main Event, as in the past, offered up intense competition in street-style skateboarding, kayaking, scaling the rock wall, and wakeboarding-as well as a chance for spectators to expand their vocabulary with terms such as kick flip, nose stall, “steezy tricks”, “raley,” and “shifty”-all skateboarding and wakeboarding tricks.
In the elite division, Sean Reyngoudt’s raleys, back rolls, 180s, and even a 360 rodeo earned him first place. Billy Tonis’ backrolls and 180s earned him a second place finish, and Logan Aldridge took third with tantrums and heelside shiftys. Among the novice competitors, Trevor Wallace took first, Jim Wazny second, and newcomer Mike Rousselle, from Canada, took third. Still on the water, Jeff Waldmuller and Kelly Allen took first place in the men’s and women’s kayak races, respectively. Jim Wazny and Kimberly Olson propelled themselves into second place. Mike Schulenberg and newcomer Katelynn Porzell netted third place. In the novice division, newcomer Bobby Ludwick lead the men taking first place and wounded warrior veterans Chuck Lemmon and Ollie Hughes placed second and third, respectively.
Pete O’Brien prowess in scaling TSR’s rock wall earned him first place in the men’s elite division. Andy May took another medal with his second place finish and Jeff Waldmuller took third. In the novice rock climbing division, newcomers Juan Latoree took first, Trevor Bunch came in second, and Seth Alexander took third place. Kimberly Olson received an honorable mention for competing with the men this year.
