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By: Michael Frank
VIDEO FROM MAD CITY 2008 - CLICK HERE
The 2008 Mad City Dual was initially canceled due to
scheduling issues until Tyler Sweeney stepped up to the plate and volunteered to
find an alternate date and organize the event. Even with the new date and fairly
short notice, a good number of skiers were heading to Madison for the tourney.
Dave Mueller and I went to the Colesium Bar on Friday night to
meet up with fellow skiers. Early arrivals were Marc Donahue from Indiana and
his friend Chris Mcwatters from lower Michigan who had made the long trip. Also
showing up were Luke Bruckner, Kit McFarland, Tyler Sweeney, Kevin Rauscher,
Paul Stokes and many others. The talk of the night was the weather and the
strong winds that were predicted for Saturday. Speaking with tournament
organizers regarding the course layout, there was a plan A and plan B. The
course would be set up like in years past with skiers getting up and heading
immediately into the course to step off, but if the wind became too strong the
skiers would be loaded into the boat and taken to the other end of the bay (the
calm side) and ski with the waves to step off and then proceed into the course.
Paul
Stokes shows off his Ducks Bar t-shirt much to the excitement of
Kevin Rauscher |
Dave, Bugsy and I having a few
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Dave spent
most of the night trying to convince everyone that he could do a front to back,
but I don’t think anyone was really buying it. As the clock struck midnight it
was evident that most skiers were interested in getting a good night sleep,
lucky for me I was with Dave so that was completely out of the question. Paul
Stokes, who is normally one of the more well behaved skiers was one of the final
people to leave with Dave and I. Tyler graciously offered to let us stay in his
basement but he had left hours ago, the only directions Dave and I had was a
hand drawn map on a piece of paper and the assurance that his front door would
be unlocked.
We
ventured out to find Tyler’s place, and when we miraculously arrived at the
correct address I made Dave open the door as I stood back and prayed it was the
correct house. Let me tell you there is no worse feeling than being in a strange
place at 2 am and opening the front door of a house. Luckily it was the right
place and Dave proceeded to turn ever single light on in the place and we made
our way to the basement only to find out that the beds had all been claimed by
the more responsible skiers who came in earlier. I did the natural thing and
jumped on the love seat leaving Dave to fend for himself. Dave decided he wanted
to watch TV and spent the next 20 minutes trying to figure out the remote, I
refused to lend a hand as it was quite comical. When we woke up, or should I say
when Dave woke us up, I noticed he had a black eye. Funny thing is, no one could
figure out where it came from.
When we
arrived at the site, the skiers were shuffling in and the water looked pretty
good, but as the bracket began to take shape the winds were steadily increasing.
The highlight of the morning was Dave asking everyone how he got a black eye and
when he asked Stokes if he had given him the black eye, Stokes paused for about
a minute and really couldn’t come up with a good answer. The bracket was laid
out with last year’s winner Mike Netzer as the number one seed and Luke Bruckner
and Paul Stokes as the other 2 seeds with everyone else filling in by random
selection. As the Tournament Edition Master Craft Tow Boat made the loops around
the course it was becoming more and more evident that the runs would be short
and sweet, thanks to mother nature.
Tyler
Sweeney working the brackets and keeping things organized |
Dave’s
mysterious black eye, I am pretty sure it was self inflicted during one
of the times he stumbled around in the dark |
Before |
After |
The first
run of the tourney was between veteran Rob Christensen and organizer Tyler
Sweeney. Unfortunately for Tyler, Rob lives for this kind of water and Tyler
went into the consolation round. Rob looked strong for his time skiing all year,
even taking out Mike Netzer in one of the longer runs of the day in round 2. The
longest run of the day was between Marc Donahue and Paul Stokes, also in round
2. Marc took Paul for over half an eight in the rough water before catching a
toe.
As the
wind continued to pick up the decision was made to go to plan B and the skiers
were taken to the other end of the bay and ran towards the crowd with a yellow
buoy marking the step off. Nearly everyone made their step off running it this
way, the best part was that the skiers nearly all fell right in front of the
crowd which made it fun to watch but unfortunately about 95% of the runs saw the
passenger side come out on top due to the direction of the wind.
The
biggest surprise of the tourney was Ben Haight from Tomahawk, who made it all
the way down to the final two undefeated in the winners bracket where he met
Paul Stokes. “This is the first time I have ever been to a barefoot tournament
besides the one we have in Tomahawk,” said Haight. Stokes prevailed and sat
waiting to see who would come out of the consolation side to face him. Luke
Bruckner was the class of the consolation bracket, eventually defeating Rob
Christensen then Haight in the final four for the right to challenge for the
title. “It was rough as hell,” said Christensen after succumbing to Bruckner.
“This was my first tome skiing this year, I had fun, it was a nice tourney to
attend and a great tourney for a chiropractor. “
In the
championship run, Bruckner would have to defeat Stokes twice to win. In their
first run, the wind had picked up tremendously and even Stokes missed his step
off on the dreaded driver side. This set up one run for all the marbles and they
switched sides. Coming into the step off area Bruckner made a last ditch effort
to land a step off bailing out of the ski, although it was close and exciting he
didn’t make it and Stokes skied away with the victory. “The 1-ski bombout was
the way to go.” Brucker said.
After the
awards ceremony Stokes had this to say about his victory, “The water played
right into my hands, I came into the tournament with the combination of an ankle
injury and carrying a little extra winter weight so the short runs were really
nice. It feels good to start 2008 out undefeated and I want to say that this
year’s Footstock winner will be someone who has never won before.”
The
remaining skiers that attended the awards ceremony |
Top
three L to R: Luke Bruckner 2nd, Paul Stokes 1st
and Ben Haight 3rd Paul Stokes was awarded a free Eagle
Wetsuit as part of first prize. |
Mark
Donahue shows off a KSO Gliding Soles T-shirt
he just won as a raffle prize |
Special
Thanks To
Tournament Sponsors Barefoot Central, Eagle Wetsuits, Barefoot
International (Official Ski Ropes and Handles) and Keith St. Onge
Barefoot School for donating raffle prizes and supporting the tournament |
Mike
Netzer shows off a new Eagle Razor barefoot
suit on his way to the dock |
L to R:
Chris Mcwatters, Marc Donahue and Gloria Mcwaters |
Rob
Christensen and Ryan Mason |
Special
thanks to Tyler Sweeney’s parents for provding food for all the skiers |
The
hardware |
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