Wakeboarding fun at championships

Wakeboarding fun at championships

31 July 2013

THE first Irish National Cable and Wake Wakeboarding Championships have been held in Belfast with County Down competitors amongst the winners.

The event was organised by Boardmills man Jonathan Crawford, with help from his wife Samantha and a team of workers, and was held in the shadow of the new Titanic building in Belfast harbour.

As with water-skiing, wakeboarders are normally pulled along behind a boat, but for this event the riders held onto a rope attached to a pulley system and they were pulled along for two runs every time they hit the water.

While they were on the water the competitors had a slider ramp and jump to perform tricks off, along with using the their own speed and the force of the pulley system to jump from the water.

The scores for the riders who travelled to the event were taken by judges led by injured Newtownards rider Paul Johnston.

The open men’s class was won by Moneyreagh rider David Coates, with his younger brother, Robin, taking second and Terryglass man Dan Kavanagh earning third place.

There were two ladies’ classes. Scottish rider Katie Radcliffe won the open ladies’ final ahead of Rebecca Kavanagh, from Tipperary, and Christina Connolly, from Dungannon.

The second ladies’ class was won by Rebecca Kavanagh, with Christina Connolly taking second ahead of her sister Jacinta in third.

In the Masters class, for competitors over 30, Jonathan Crawford took the honours ahead of Cork man Barry Galvin and Ronan Long.