WATER SKIING
TWO YEARS AGO in Tenerife, Australia dominated the world championships.
The team won all six classes in Spain. Some said they brought home enough gold to sink one of their own boats.
Australia will look to continue their dominance of international water skiing when the 2015 World Water Ski Racing Championships start in New Zealand next week – and Hawkesbury skiers will be out in force.
Six Hawkesbury skiers – Rachel Stapleton, Cameron Osborne, Jake Tegart, Ellen Jones, Luke Harrison and Jack Harrison – make up a quarter of the Australian team to compete at the championships in Wellington.
Racing starts on April 11 across six divisions including men’s Formula 1 and 2, women’s Formula 1 and 2 and junior boys and girls under 17-years-old.
Teams from Australia as well as New Zealand, USA, Great Britain, Belgium, Austria and Hong Kong will compete on the Wellington Harbour courses based around Oriental and Evans bays.
The Hawkesbury crew include the reigning junior boys and girls champions, Jack Harrison and Stapleton, as well as the International Waterski and Wakeboard Federation female racing skier of the year Jones.
Tegart, who finished second in the Formula 2 category in Spain, has stepped up to the Formula 1 class while Osborne and Luke Harrison will experience the championships for the first time.
Osborne will compete in the junior boys, with Harrison the first reserve.
His older brother, Jack, will look to defend his junior boy world title.
Stapleton has moved up to the Formula 2 class while Jones, 15, will look to go one better than her second-place finish in Spain when she competes in the junior girls.
It will be a tough schedule for the team who will compete in four rounds over the week with a rest day in between each competition day.
The three best results for each skier count towards their score.
You can leave a message of support for the team in the comment section.
