Back in the water

Chris Cranton hopes his wakeboarding competition will make as big of a splash as it did three years ago.

The 22-year-old started wakeboarding six years ago as a way to stay active outside of snowboarding season. He trained at a school in British Columbia and often travelled to Florida during the winter to prepare for competitions.

He loved the sport so much that he wanted to spread the word to Thunder Bay, so he began the wakeboarding event Wake the Giant in 2007.

After a three-year break, Cranton said he wants to reintroduce the sport to Thunder Bay.

"Wakeboarding is a very new sport," Cranton said on Thursday, announcing the next Wake the Giant Event, scheduled to take place this weekend at Boulevard Lake.

"When I first started the event it was just to get more people interested in the sport. I was really into it and I thought it would be great to show the community wakeboarding because so many people in Thunder Bay have a cottage."

The last event had about 3,000 people attend, which was double the participation from the previous year.

Cranton decided to change the event a little and added skateboarding and BMX racing. He said he always wanted to incorporate those two sports, but couldn’t until the waterfront skatepark was constructed.

Dirt jumping competitinos will take place at Boulevard Lake on Saturday, however, the skateboarding and BMX events will be held at Marina Park on Sunday.

He expects those changes will make this year's event bigger than the last one, but he admits the biggest draw is always the lake.

"Boulevard Lake is a perfect lake for a competition," he said. "The lake is always calm no matter how windy it is, it's about the standard size for a competition run and we have just enough room to turn around. It's exactly what we need."

Mike Petrynko, 19, said he can’t wait for the competition on Saturday.

Originally from Thunder Bay, Petrynko and his family moved to Winnipeg 15 years ago. He learned how to wakeboard six years ago because he wanted to do something fun with his friends.

He said the best training is on a trampoline and snowboarding.

"The best part of this sport is that it’s just fun and it's social," he said.

"The competition is going to be fun. It's supposed to be a good day. Two years ago I came in second, so hopefully I can pull something out of the bag."

The wakeboarding competition and BMX rides starts on Saturday at 10 a.m. The skateboarding competition starts at noon on Sunday.

Registration for the wakeboarding contest costs $80 for professionals and $50 for amateurs.

Dirt jumping, skateboarding and BMX riding each costs $10.

Admission is free for spectators with parking available at St. Ignatius High School.