2015 Jettribe Asia InvitationalJettribe Travel Team Riders attended the 1st Jettribe Asia Freestyle Invitationa
This past weekend the Jettribe Travel Team riders attended the 1st Jettribe Asia Freestyle Invitational event in China. Jettribe has worked long and tirelessly planning and building a relationship with the International Sports Committee in China. This is the first time in history we were able to create an event specifically for Freestyle, Flyboard and Standup watercraft. At no other time has the United States and the People's Republic of China been able cooperate on an event like this. Jettribe was proud and honored to have Freestyle, Flyboard and Standup as the main events. Freestyle and Flyboard are typically just a show during the intermediary lunch breaks of most races. This event was held in a beautiful location and drew over a thousand spectators
The Flyboard Team was made up of 2 female flyers, Kristen "The Machine" Smoyer of Florida and Gemma Weston of Ireland. Their flyboard demonstrations were amazing and the crowd absolutely loved it. As quoted by Gemma,
"It's bizarre being treated like a superstar by the crowd".
Our Freestyle Team consisted of 1 female and 3 males, Jessi Wijdeven & Tim Verheij of Amsterdam, Peter Waldron of Alabama and Derrick Kemnitz Jr. of California. These freestylers are truely amazing atheletes. Jessi was actually the first female to flip a ski in China and it was done on the Jettribe JTF 1100 Freestyle hull. Congratulations on making history in China Jessi! We couldn't be more proud of Jessi, all the other riders and everyone who worked tirelessly to get this ski toChina in time for this event to happen.
The riders and staff had a chance to explore their surroundings in China while they were there. They got to experience evening rides in the local tuc tuc's and quoted by all "the food was very challenging". But I do think Derrick Jr.'s favorite food was the fish heads.
Here are few words from Kristen Smoyer that sum up this event nicely - "The Chinese Olympic Aqua Bike Invitational was a phenomenal experience. I am proud to be a part of the Jettribe USA team along side other World Class Athletes. The facilities in China were spectacular, raging with elite Chinese athletes and elated fans of water sports. We joined together China and USA through high class levels of sportsmanship and respect. This experience was truly once in a lifetime and we were treated with the utmost respect by top leaders in the water sport world and community. I come away truly humbled with the ability to not only stand side by side with my teammates but to also have participated in such an event with professional athletes."
To all the event riders and staff, including Ross Wallach and Charles Sims, you did an awesome job!!! We look forward to hosting our next event in China before the end of the year. This is just the seed and we have only just begun. There are bigger and better things on the horizon. Stay tuned and watch out!
