PINEVIEW RESERVOIR — This Ogden Valley reservoir is gaining popularity as fine summer destination among wakeboarding communities around the country, as evidenced by a growing event that brings hundreds of competitors and spectators to test the waters or just have fun on the beach.

After a successful debut last year, Monster Energy and local recreation business Club Rec teamed up on Pioneer Day for a second wakeboarding competition dubbed Wake Up.

The competition is open to the public to compete, and everyone is welcome as spectators. This year, Monster brought its top wakeboard athlete, Shane Bonifay, to ride in the event and be on hand all day to meet other riders and offer his advice to young competitors.

Lawrence Lewis, a team manager for Monster who is based in Liberty, said one of the main goals is to bring in top athletes like the world-renowned Bonifay to interact with locals and young athletes who may be looking to take their game to the next level.

“We try to get involved at the grassroots level and support the local scene,” Lewis said. “We bring these top athletes right into our own neighborhoods and let the locals see the model of how they made it to that level.”

Monster is involved in other events in the area as well. Later this month, Monster is bringing in motorcross legend Jeremy McGrath for an event at Powder Mountain.

The company also has a strong presence at the Winter Dew Tour, which is holding its championship event at Snowbasin next February.

Wake Up bills itself as “the summer wakeboard event to invite your friends and family to.” In addition to the competition, the Middle Inlet Beach area becomes a party zone, complete with food, drink and live music.

Paul Avner, owner of Club Rec, said this year’s event drew about 1,000 people, up from 500 to 600 last year. It also drew about 12 vendors, up from two last year.

Athlete participation also saw a big jump the second time around. Avner said the 60 to 70 competitors this year represented a 30 percent jump over last year.

“Wakeboarding competitions have been going on for several years in Utah, but last year was the first one ever at Pineview,” he said. “We had pretty good success last year, so we decided to do it bigger and better this time around.”

Club Rec is the concessionaire for rentals of boats, jet skis and other toys at Pineview. The five-year-old company also does on-site rentals at Willard Bay and East Canyon Reservoir, rents ATVs, and rents snowmobiles on-site at Monte Cristo in the winter.

The organizers brought in Wake Utah, a group of wakeboarding enthusiasts that puts on competitions throughout the region every year.

Wake Utah representatives judged competitors in several categories ranging from beginner to professional. Among other things, judges look for style, big air, and technical tricks.

In the beginner division, Gavin Tuttle took top honors. Rob McFarlane took the top spot among intermediate competitors, while Nikki Wilhoite won the women’s division.

Ken Russell took top honors in the advanced category, and Braxton Tomlinson came out on top in the outlaw division.

In the double up category, Andrew Wallace won for the biggest air.

“Doubling up” is a wakeboarding term used to describe when a boat driver makes a wide turn and crosses over the wake the boat has just made. The wakeboarder rides on the inside of the turn and hits the two wakes as they meet, where the wakes can be up to three times larger than normal. This can result in extra-high air by the wakeboarder.

“The competition was really high quality,” Lewis said. “Bringing in an athlete like Shane Bonifay really brought awareness and a different level of competition.”

Avner said the plan is to continue growing the the partnership with Monster and make Wake Up a staple of the summer scene at Pineview.

“We’re planning to do it every year and keep getting bigger,” he said. “Everyone we talk to, even Shane, who travels to events all over the world, said that besides the huge events like the X Games and Gravity Games, he said it’s the best local competition he’s ever been involved in.”

He said the plan is to keep doing Wake Up on or around Pioneer Day, even though the state holiday has so many other events going on simultaneously.

“We’re not too concerned about competing with the rodeos and parades and all the other activities,” he said. “Wakeboarders are kind of their own breed, and they would be out on the lake anyway.”

Getting the proper permits from entities like the Forest Service and Weber County can be a lot of work, but he said they have been good to work with, and the result is worth the effort.