Roots Wake Series leaves Haliburton for Bala

By Darren Lum

Published May 3 2016

The Roots Wake Series is not coming to Haliburton this year said its event director.

Last year the series included the JoAnne Sharpley Source For Sports Provincial Championships which was held at Head Lake in Haliburton on July 11.

Event director for Roots and a wakeboard competitor Erika Langman said the move away from Haliburton was decided by “the team behind the Roots Wake Series.”

“It was a very difficult decision for us” she wrote. “Head Lake has always been one of the highlight spots on the tour for the past six years. However with the growth of wake park specific riding we felt it was necessary to move closer to a facility that offers both boat as well as wake park.”

She added the series will be using the Bush’s Watersports Park in Bala Muskoka which offers boat and cable wakeboarding and has hosted national provincial and The Roots Wake Stop wakeboarding competitions.

“We felt that in order to help our grassroots riders progress it was time to move to event stops that offer both options in the same facility” she said.

She didn’t rule out a return to Haliburton in the future.

“Who knows – maybe Haliburton will look into creating a straight-line cable wake park facility in the future! It would definitely be a hit with the local cottagers and youth of the area” she said.

JoAnne Sharpley of JoAnne Sharpley Source for Sports said “It’s a shame that something that was so good for the young people is no longer going to be here.”

However the principal event sponsor for all six years acknowledges the event was never as economically beneficial to the Haliburton downtown businesses as Rock the Wake which was organized locally. She has no intention of organizing such an event.