Big feat on little feet

Courtesy of Linda Brown

Linda Brown, 4 feet, 10 inches tall, wears wakeboarding boots made for 3- to-5-year-old children.

Linda Brown, 64, applied to the Guinness Book of World Record to be the oldest female wakeboard competitor. As it turns out, she got the record for the oldest male or female competitor.

Photos courtesy of Linda Brown

At the July 2009 Battle of Bull Run, Linda Brown of Moneta came in fifth place in the 40-and-over category, riding behind the Wake N Skate Mastercraft driven by Micah Gaudio. But she came in first place with Guinness as the oldest wakeboard competitor.

Courtesy of Linda Brown

Linda Brown's physicians Mackenzie Prandi (left) and James Farmer (right) have given her the go-ahead to start wakeboarding again.

When Linda "Maw" Brown won a wakeboard six years ago, she had no idea one day she'd be making wakeboard history.

The grandmother from Moneta won a wakeboard at the Tom Maynard Memorial Poker Run. Even though the board was a bit big, as were the boots, Brown still felt like a fish in water.

"It just kind of came natural to me," she said.

Since then, Brown, who has lived at Bernard's Landing for 11 years, six of them full time, has wakeboarded a few times every week. Through the years, she's participated in the 40-and-older category at competitions hosted by Wake N Skate and Blackwater Boat Company. Then last summer, Brown reached for glory.

"One of my grandchildren said, 'Gee, Maw, why don't you try for the Guinness Book of World Records?'" Brown recalled. "I said, 'What, the oldest woman or the oldest wakeboarder?' They said, 'It doesn't matter.'"

Brown's husband Buster got in touch with the people at Guinness. No one had ever tried for the record so Brown started getting the required paperwork together. It was at the Battle of Bull Run at SML in July 2009 that she set the record.

To verify her feat, Guinness asked for her birth certificate, marriage license, statements from witnesses, photographs and video.

"It's a long process," said Brown.

But it was worth it. Last month, she received her certificate from Guinness. The post office forwarded it from their Moneta home to their winter home in Florida and Brown's name was written into the books.

"When my husband told me, even though I knew it was very possible, I just went bananas," said Brown. "I screamed and cried and went nuts over it."

Brown said she was a bit surprised at the certificate, because she had applied as the oldest woman wakeboard competitor, but received the record as the oldest wakeboard competitor. No one, she said, had applied for the record.

Although she's now on the books, Brown said if she had to do it again, she wouldn't. It was a long and stressful experience, she said. Besides, when she straps on a board, she just wants to have fun.

"I love to wakeboard," said Brown. "It's the biggest high -- getting air."

Small in size, big on fun

Brown laughs when she says she's a tiny woman. And she is. Brown is 4 feet 10 inches tall, so finding the right board wasn't easy. The wakeboard she won at the Poker Run was much too big for her, but Brown took her first runs on it nevertheless.

"The board that I had was a big board and it had big boots and it didn't fit me," she said.

But after enough rides around the lake, Brown became passionate enough to invest in a board with boots that fit. Soon, her three grandchildren -- Jessyca, 16, and Lee Robinson, 14; and Kristen Brown, 16 -- got involved.

"They all took like fish to water because they're teenagers," said Brown. "We're always out there with the grandchildren, and actually, I'm into it more than they are."

She said her grandchildren, and two area children -- Sarah, 16, and Morgan Woosley, 11 -- so dear to her, "I treat them like grandchildren," are her biggest cheerleaders.

"They're the ones that push me," said Brown. "Because if they push me to do something, then they'll try it."

Her husband tried wakeboarding, but he didn't take to the sport. Instead, he serves as Brown's captain and coach. He's the best, said Brown, offering her pointers when she does something wrong and praising her when she gets it right.

But Brown's wakeboarding support group includes more than family. She said Eric Gerner, general manager of Wake N Skate, and the entire Enslow family are huge supporters.

Gerner was instrumental in helping Brown find a board and boots to fit her tiny feet. Buster was so proud of his wife for going for the Guinness record, he bought her a new Hyperlite 132 board she'd been eyeing.

It was in the fall when Brown underwent partial knee replacement surgery -- due to arthritis and age, unrelated to wakeboarding -- and she wanted Velcro boots for ease of use after surgery. Plus, the old boots never did fit right.

"Eric and I, I think it took us about a month or longer to find something that would fit me," said Brown. "My foot is just so skinny and so small."

A representative from CWB, Gerner's sponsor, even tried to fit Brown's feet one day when she visited Wake N Skate. Brown said he offered to give her the boots for free if she made it into Guinness. But there was nothing that fit.

Weeks later, Brown and Gerner finally found a toddler-sized Liquid Force Prima boot made for 3- to 5-year-olds.

"The boots, they look like little ants on a board," said Brown.

Getting back on the water

Brown is looking forward to late spring when she can jump the wakes again. Her orthopedic physicians, James Farmer and Mackenzie Prandi of Lewis-Gale, have given her the go-ahead to jump back into the sport.

"My doctors are really behind me 100 percent," said Brown.

She said her knee was bothering her for a few years before she underwent surgery. The cartilage had worn away, leaving the bones to rub against one another, causing Brown a lot of pain. Wakeboarding provided relief.

"When I was on my board, my knee never hurt me whatsoever because it acted like a cast on my foot," said Brown. "Every time I was on the wakeboard, the pressure was off."

Now that she has a new knee, a new wakeboard and new boots, Brown is building up her nerve to take her first run. She and Buster are in Florida, where they spend a few months every winter.

They've visited the wakeboard cable parks in Tampa and Orlando, but Brown hasn't joined the wakeboarders. She said the layout, with the riders so close behind each other and the jumps so close to the middle, is a little intimidating.

"I just don't think I'm ready yet," she said. "I think I'd rather be home."