The best of the best

If you're out at a lake watching people doing surf carves, butterslides and whirlybirds, you're probably at a wakeboarding competition.

Riverside Park in Kamloops will be the venue for the 2011 National Wakeboarding Championships from August 26 to 28; here, riders from across the country compete for the rights to brag that they caught the biggest air and threw down the sickest tricks.

The event boasts more than 100 riders, who sneak in through provincial qualifiers.

"So, it's our best riders from across the country that come to nationals," said Tanya Chmilar, the event organizer, "and it's wakeboarding, wakeskating and a rail competition—the SBC Rail Jam."

Spectators can hang out in a fenced-off area that will contain food vendor booths and beer gardens—tickets are $10 a day or $25 for the whole event.

Wake sport industry representatives will also have a presence; people can buy anything from T-shirts to wakeboards.

Kids under seven are free and younger children can spend time in the kids zone, which will be set up with fun activities and a bouncy castle.

Kamloops was chosen last year as the site for the 2011 competition by Water Ski and Wakeboard Canada. The decision was based on the facilities as well as the commitment of the organizing committee.

Chmilar sits as a wakeboard director for Water Ski and Wakeboard BC and is on the wakeboard committee for Water Ski and Wakeboard Canada.