GULF SHORES, Ala. — Hundreds of athletes and fans gathered at Gulf Shores’ Waterville U.S.A. over the weekend for the Wave Loch Flowrider National Championship.

The three-day event, which was the final stop of a 16-sight nationwide Flow Tour, brought competitors of the relatively young sport from all across the United States.

While Waterville has hosted Flow Tour events in the past, this marked the first time that the National Championship event has been held anywhere other than California.

“Most of these riders here this weekend are traveling competitors,” said Chris Granone, the Wave Loch Flow Tour Director. “We do have a great local base of riders here in Gulf Shores, but there are more than 170 people competing over the next three days.”

With several divisions of competition, Granone said that there was a place for anyone of any age, including the 12 and younger division, a junior division for age 13-17, men’s and women’s divisions for ages 18-29, a master’s division for ages 30 and older, and also an expert division.

“We have all of these division for both body boarding and flowboarding, or the boogie board and the surf board,” Granone explained.

This year, the Tour added a beginner division for individuals who have not competed previously.

The Flowrider is a continuous wave where riders surf into and then perform various maneuvers and tricks for points. Judges score each rider on a scale of 1 to 10, based on how the riders utilize their time, their ride and how well they execute maneuvers.

“Each rider gets three rides and we take the top two scores of their three rides to determine their overall placing in the round,” said Granone.

This year, the riders came from fifteen different states to compete for the $5,000 cash award that goes to the expert standup and body board division winners.

Granone said that while the sport is still in its infancy, the organization continues to see growth across the country.

“There are at least 50 of these Flowriders across the country, and they continue to pop up all over the place, so this is not just an activity anymore, it has become a legitimate sport. There are international competition, professional riders and big time sponsors including Royal Caribbean who was our Tour sponsor for three years running.”

Granone said that although there are Flowriders all across the country he considers Gulf Shores one of the best stops on the tour.

“We are ecstatic to be in Gulf Shores. This is one of the premiere installations in the nation, and with the arena style atmosphere, it caters to the what we want for our National Championship event.”