B
etween August 28th and September 1st 2013
Busan (South Korea) played host to the IWWF
World Wakeboard Championships. (Yep, we
know... Worlds, World Champs, World Cup, EAME
World’s, WWA World’s- but this one is “World
Wakeboard Championships”). But most importantly
Team NZ was represented at this particular World
Champs! The team sent to Korea was: Darren Bishop,
Dan Tingey, James Tingey, Regan Carlyon, Theo
Robinson and Francesco Hazelwood. It was most
riders first exposure to a world cup, and also first time
riding the monster boats such as the X-Star tournament
boat, and G23 practice boat!
None of the riders caught an easy break at any stage!
With Darren Bishop coming up against Aussie’s Brad
Teunissen and USA’s Danny Thollander in Heat 1!
Regan came second in his first heat which boosted
him straight to Round 3 along with Dan Tingey, who
unfortunately got pitted in the same Quater Finals, and
didn’t make it through.
James Tingey and Darren came unstuck in the LCQ’s
(Round 2) after coming up against pretty harsh
competition, with Darren placing second - unfortunately
LCQ’s only take the heat winner onto round 3!
The event was won by the heavyweights such as
Harely Clifford in open mens and Raimi Merritt in open
womens- followed in second by Amber Wing. NZ placed
19th Overall as a team, just a few points off the well
funded and World Cup experienced Singapore team.
So I think for a new team, with mostly newcomers to
serious competitive wakeboarding the whole team did
really well. It shows we have a long way to go to catch
up with the winners such Australia and USA, however
its a great platform to start building on, and with more
experience, structured coaching and maximum time on
the water NZ will be climbing up international rankings
every event!
Some more shots from the event are on the next page.
Words: Luke Thomas