A big splash, a bigger ambition

Beyond the weekend action, the subculture of wakeboarding feels it's time for recognition

Morgan Campbell Sports Reporter

Toronto's Wakestock festival is the biggest weekend on the pro wakeboard calendar.

The four-day event on Centre Island, which starts Thursday, is part contest, part convention and part concert, as well as a showcase for extreme sports on the cusp of widespread acceptance.

"We're all pushing to go mainstream," says pro rider Keith Lid- berg.

"We want to be part of the (Mountain Dew) Action Sports Tour and the X-Games, and be respected as legitimate athletes."

But wakeboarding recently lost access to a huge chunk of the mainstream sports audience, when the U.S. sports network ESPN dropped the sport from the lineup of its annual Summer X-Games, which are patterned after the Olympics.

At the inaugural X-Games in the summer of 1995, athletes represented their countries and competed for medals in sports like skateboarding, BMX freestyle, street luge and, yes, wakeboarding.

Now in its 13th year, the X-Games have introduced fans of casual sports to the heroes of action sports, including skateboard legend Tony Hawk and BMX freestyle icon Matt Hoffman. Initially, wakeboarding's popularity grew, too.

This year, though, the X-Games changed its format from a multi-venue event to one that's confined to a few spots in central Los Angeles.

The move saves money for ESPN by limiting production costs, but led to the network dropping wakeboarding.

Shut out of ESPN's annual summer festival, wakeboarders now consider Toronto their biggest stage.

"Right now, I guess, our X-Games would be Wakestock," says Lidberg, who is based in Orlando, Fla.

The weekend's main event is the Pro Expression session, but there are three other pro competitions plus an amateur women's contest and an amateur street skateboard contest.
There are also three days of concerts.

Adam Levitt, who edits Wakeboard magazine and helps organize Wakestock, says making this the biggest party on the pro circuit means it appeals to all riders – those who like to compete and those who make their living starring in videos.

"We get guys who usually don't like to compete who want to come to our contest because it's something different," Levitt says.

Lidberg, 26, is one of those video stars who makes time for Wakestock and was last year's rail jam champion.

His career mirrors the sport's growth over the past half decade.

Six years ago, in his first season on the pro wakeboard circuit, Lidberg made a lot of friends but very little money.

He persevered, taking jobs – selling cars, building docks, tending bar – with hours flexible enough to allow him to travel to contests and well-paying enough to finance those trips.

Now he stars in wakeboarding videos and competes often enough to maintain a top-12 ranking in the World Wakeboarding Association. He no longer needs his day jobs.

"Once you start performing and picking up sponsors, it all starts to fall into place," he says.
"But it took me four years to even start making money."

Lidberg says prize money hasn't increased since he turned pro, but the number of contests has, allowing more riders to make more money.

Even so, he estimates 90 per cent of pro wakeboarders are "struggling and in debt."