Henri Haapala stepped up to claim the 2015 Finnish FLOW Tour Title at Sirius Sport and will take his talents to FLOW House Bangkok to represent Finland at the World Flowboarding Championships.
Sirius Sport Resort offers meeting centers, top notch facilities and activities for everyone to enjoy. At Sirius Sport you will find an outdoor ropes course, indoor wind tunnel and not one, but two, FlowRider Double surf simulators side by side.
The staff at Sirius Sport are very passionate about what they do, it’s all or nothing. For instance, their Skydive Tunnel team is one of the best in land and they want nothing different for their FlowRider® crew.
Sirius Sport has been open for approximately two years and is enthusiastic to make a push for the sport of flowboarding in their community and geographical region. The venue teamed up with Battery Energy Drink, Quiksilver, SuperDuper Surf and Flowboarding League Of the World (FLOW) to bring the FlowRider FLOWmovement to Finland.
On September 19, 2015, Sirius Sport hosted the 2015 Finnish FLOW Tour Championships Presented by Battery Energy.
Sirius Sport Resort put out the word out to all board sport enthusiast in the area and invited them to come join the fun. Not only did Sirius invite the best flowboarders in the area and welcomed all spectators, but they also brought in special guests, FLOW Events & Sport Marketing Coordinator, Adam Muller and 5x World Flowboarding Champion, Sean Silveira, to assist with the event operations.
“We wanted to do things right; nobody knows the sport better than these two guys!” explain Miroslava Shilova, Events Coordinator at Sirius Sport. “It was also important for us to have proper personnel judging the competition to provide credibility to the results” Miroslava added.
Muller is the FLOW Tour director for FlowRider Inc. and helps coordinate flowboarding competitions all over the world. “This was an awesome opportunity for flowboarding, Tours take place in USA, Asia and Europe, and it’s great to see Finland get in the mix!” mentioned Muller.
Management at Sirius brought in Muller to not only organize the competition but also provide educational workshops on the sport of flowboarding. Throughout the week, events included a competitor’s workshop, judging seminar and wave training with defending World Champion, Sean Silveira.
“It’s not about us, it’s about the sport” responded Sirius Sport Managing Director, Marie Skavo-Sinisalo when asked about the purpose of hosting the workshops and competition. “We want to see the sport grow and be able to offer the best experience to our guests” Marie clarified.
Wave Manager, Santi Cerda, was excited for Sirius to host the competition. “I love watching the riders compete on waves, the level of riding has dramatically increased since last year, simply amazing to see things go to the next level in front of your eyes” describes Santi.
During the week Silveira spent time training with the competitors, offering up tips and friendly advice before the competition. “I was excited to get invited back, these waves are super fun to ride!” Silveira said. Sean had visited Sirius Sport before when he made a pit stop for training, after working on a Royal Caribbean Cruise ship wave in February. “It was rad to see some of the riders again and help the progress their skills for the competition” Silveira added.
The event offered three different categories, Junior Flowboard, Open Bodyboard; Open Flowboard. On competition day, two dozen competitors we geared up and ready to take the wave for their chance at becoming a Finnish FLOW Tour Champion.
In the Open Bodyboard division, we saw competitors range from 6 years old to 50 years of age. At the end of the day, Rony Karlsson found himself at the top of the podium and was crowned the winner. Other notable riders who finished second and third include Olli Kytonen and Elmeri Nystrom (Youngest competitor and fan favorite in the voting polls).
The Junior Flowboard division provided an exciting match up in the finals. Ilmari and Vaino Alanampa (brothers) went head to head for bragging rights on their home wave. Only one could take home top spot this day; Ilmari got the better of his brother on the wave.
The Open Flowboard category had the largest turn out, over a dozen competitors entered for the chance to be Champion. The winner would earn an airline ticket and represent Finland at the World Flowboarding Championships this November hosted by Flow House Bangkok in Thailand.
After narrowing down the competition to four riders, (Niike Lunna, Imari Alanampa, Tomi Muinonen and Henri Haapala) who went head to head in the Semi-Finals, only Tomi and Henri were left in the final showdown. This friendly rival between Sirius Sport Co-Workers was an epic battle as they knew only the top finisher would earn a Boarding Pass Airline ticket to Bangkok.
After 3 runs; counting top two scores, Hennri Haapala stepped up to claim the 2015 Finnish FLOW Tour Title at Sirius Sport and will take his talents to FLOW House Bangkok to represent Finland at the World Flowboarding Championships on November 14th & 15th.
Hats of the all the competitors and special thanks to the Staff at Sirius Sport, Judges and event sponsors (Battery Energy Drink, Quiksilver, SuperDuper Surf and Flowboarding League Of the World) for making this all come together! Until next time, we will see on the wave flowboarders!
We are excited to see the FLOWmovement spread around the globe and invite everyone to gear up and jump on board! Stay Social and Go With the Flow!
