Battle for the Lake Achill Island 2014

Something hits you when you arrive on Achill Island, crossing Michael Davitt Bridge in Achill Sound, and along the Wild Atlantic Way you leave the ‘rat race’ behind and enter a land full of mystery and magic; Pure Magic!

Achill Island, the largest island off the Irish coast, is situated in County Mayo on the west coast of Ireland and is home to the Pure Magic Lodge, the western base for the Pure Magic crew. With a population of just 2,700, Achill Island couldn’t be any further removed from the team’s Dublin base which boasts a population of over 600,000.

For the past 4 years the Pure Magic crew have hosted Battle for the Lake; a freestyle kitesurf event based at Keel Lake, directly in front of the Lodge. The event forms part of the Irish Kitesurfing Association, (IKSA) tour and gathers national and international kitesurfers to Achill Island for a weekend of kiting, music and partying.
With such amazing scenery, incredible local hospitality and most importantly wind; Battle for the Lake certainly delivered.
The competition got underway on Saturday starting with the Juniors in the light wind and these guys put on a good display. Stefan Vance was the stand out rider in this category which was hotly contested.

As the wind picked up the Am Men’s, followed and there was stiff competition between the local riders and the international visitors. Gavin Yeates having only decided to enter at the last minute managed to make it through to the finals and ended up third on the podium behind Padraic Doherty and a very powered Nicolas Hourdin who had an amazing repertoire of board off's kiteloops raley's and front and back rolls to take the amateur title.
In the Ladies Aisling Daly representing the IKSA had a cracking first heat landing back rolls jumps and rallies. Her opponent Sarah Courtney was like a Duracell Bunny landing her jumps and her back rolls to take a place in the final.  Tereza Simanova, who despite arriving late for her heat, still managed to go through to the final by landing a powerful back roll to toe side, front rolls and jumps.
The second heat between Catherine Etienne, Monika Kredcioch and Nicole was equally as action packed with Monika and Catherine taking the edge with their smooth landings putting them through to the final.
As the Ladies final got underway, Tereza kicked started the action, landing a clean powerful unhooked rallie. Sarah continued with her Duracell Bunny charge, landing clean jumps, high back rolls and floaty grab front rolls but Tereza hit back by landing clean front rolls back to toe side, earning her the top spot of Queen of the Lake. Sarah took 2nd place with Catherine and Monika coming in 3rd and 4th place respectively.
Last but not least it was the turn of the Pro riders and once again it was the local lads v the international riders. Throughout the day the level of riding had been good and the Pro competition was no exception. Whilst a number of riders put in some huge performances; making it to the final were Sean Murphy, Tom Court, Antoine Clerc and Nicolas Etienne.
There are some hidden gems in Ireland as North pro rider Tom Court found out in the Pro Men’s comp when he came up against local rider, Sean Murphy in the final. Tom had to dig deep and with crow mobes, 313's, and a variety of other technical tricks was just too much for Sean who couldn't quite keep up his momentum. Antoine Clerc and Nicolas Etienne couldn't quite get used to the swirling Irish wind and found it difficult to land cleanly in the gusts and lulls.
With the competitions over the day finished with a Fancy Dress Freeride!
Saturday night and it was back to Lodge for more live music, some wine tasting games and highlight of the night, a ‘Mr Battle for the Lake’ contest. Not much to say about that, think the piccys say it all!
The weekend finished with some demos and games at the lake on Sunday, meet the sheep and the prizing giving.
All in all a great event that really captures the ‘local’ feel in an international way. Well done guys!

Results:

Juniors
1- Stefan Vance
2- Brendan Kumar
3- Ronan Armstrong and James Tidmarsh

Ladies:
1- Teresa Simonova
2- Sarah Courtney
3- Catherine Etienne

Amateurs:
1- Nicolas Hourdin
2- Padraic Doherty
3- Gavin Yeates

Pros:
1- Tom Court (North)
2- Sean Murphy (North)
3- Nicolas Etienne (Best)

Well done everyone for the great show! We will have a link to ALL the images from Battle for the Lake up soon!