World Cup Athletes from 22 Countries Welcomed to Mandurah
This weekend will be a spectacular one for the City of Mandurah. With over 3,000 hours of annual sunshine, magnificent waterways and Marinas and hundreds of very impressive private homes on the waterfront, the programme will include the 33rd Waterski & Wakeboard World Cup Stop, the Action Sports Games, the annual Crab Festival and a host of other special attractions.
Tonight, Mayor Paddi Creevey welcomed the athletes from 22 countries to the City at the Atrium Hotel and wished them every success in what is Australia’s first World Cup experience. As Mandurah was recently voted Western Australia’s Top Tourism Town, over 100,000 spectators are expected to enjoy the thrills of this World Cup Stop which will include Wakeboard, Waterski Shortboard and Jump.
Mayor Paddi Creevey tonight welcomed all the World Cup athletes and confirmed the agreement to make this the first of a four year agreement with the International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation (IWWF). Seen here (pictured below left) with the Mayor are Franklyn Nannup, Kuno Ritschard, IWWF President, Tim Thirsk, Event Director, Actions Sports Promotions, George Walley and didgeridoo, and Des Burke-Kennedy, IWWF Media and Marketing.
As this will also be the first World Cup Stop of the 2012 season, all eyes will be watching for who is on form this year. World Records have fallen in 2011 in Men and Women Shortboard and also in Women Jump. The athletes involved, Aliaksei Zharnasek BLR, Clementine Lucine FRA and Natalia Berdnikava BLR, will all contest for medals at this Mandurah World Cup Stop. World Jump Record Holder, Freddy Krueger USA, World Wakeboard Champions Harley Clifford AUS and Raimi Merrit USA will also compete.
For all the latest World Cup news and photos over this weekend, see : www.WaterskiandWakeboardWorldCup.com
For the FREE Eyres Action Sports Webcast coverage on Saturday and Sunday, see either of these screens :
www.WaterskiandWakeboardWorldCup.com
Please note that Mandurah time is GMT+8hrs.
For the full programme schedule, weather permitting, see :
www.actionsportsgames.com.au/event-info/Program-Schedule
As with all previous 32 World Cup Stops, MasterCraft will again provide the competition boats. These arrived on site this evening and will be featured throughout the weekend in our Webcast. Watch out for the Robinson R44 Helicopter Camera above the World Cup athletes on the water as they promise to transmit some very exciting angles of these extreme sports not seen before ! Over ten other cameras will also be placed in critical loactions to get you as close to the action as possible.