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[SKI] 2011 Australian 'Worlds' team
by Sean Henshelwood
World Championship qualifiers
August 1, 2011
This September (10-18) the best skiers in the world will converge on Moreton Bay in Queensland for the 2011 World Water Ski Racing Championships. Currently Australia holds two of the six world championship titles on offer, with Junior Boys (Jack Houston - behind Stinga F1 (Greg Houston and Kevin Boylan)) and Open Mens (Wayne Mawer - behind True Blue (Mark Cranny/Damien Matthews)) taking victory almost two years ago in Belgium (July 2009).
Whilst the Australian Ski Racing Classics are certainly not for the feint of heart, the internationally sanctioned world championships are another thing again. Races are for single skiers only with F1 and F2 Mens contesting races over a one hour duration, plus one extra lap of the course. F1 and F2 Ladies run a 50 minute plus one lap course, and Junior Boys and Girls run for 40 minutes plus one lap. That’s not so hard you may think, however the event is conducted over four days (rounds) with lay days (practice days) in between. Getting harder? Well consider that to make your country’s team (that’s three members and a reserve in each class) you have to contest your own national qualification series and place in the top four!
In Australia that series consist of seven events, three of which are back-to-back (Saturday and Sunday), and every one of them is run to the world championship format of one hour plus a lap for F1 and F2 mens and so on..
Now you can see why these people are revered as some of the world’s leading athletes. In fact competition is so tough, that skiers like reigning world #2 in F1 Ladies (and 2005 world champion), Lauryn Eagle, has taken to boxing to prepare for her title assault in September!
Of the local challengers, there are many. In F1 Mens, reigning world champion Wayne Mawer is sitting this one out, but with two world water ski titles (1997/2009) and two world wakeboarding titles to his name, there’s really not much reason to prove again why he is one of the best in the world.
The big threat from Australia though is likely to come from a duo that are currently dominating the major events in Australia, former world champion Jason Walmsley (2007) and his ‘Team Hell’ team-mate, rising star Peter Procter (pictured above). The pair usually ski alongside each other, but this September they'll be going head-to-head against the best skiers in the world, which also includes fellow Australian qualifier, 2003/2007 world champion, Chris Stout.
In F1 Ladies the locals are also in with a chance to regain the crown lost to the UK in Belgium, with Lauryn Eagle hoping to go one better and claim her maiden F1 title (after winning all seven qualification events in Australia), whilst fellow former world champion Tania Teelow (2007) will be hoping to regain the F2 Ladies title after missing the 2009 world titles in Belgium.
2011 Australian Team
Open Men; Chris Stout, Peter Procter, Jason Walmsley (reserve - Ben Gulley)
Open Women; Lauryn Eagle, Kylee Jones, Maddie Boyer (reserve - Leanne Halligan)
F2 Men; Daniel Cotton, Grant Turner, Mark Weaver (reserve - Daniel Graziano)
F2 Women; Leanne Campbell, Trudi Stout, Tania Teelow (reserve - Chelsea Blight)
Junior Boys; Jack Houston, Lloyd Woolman, Jack Whitton (reserve - Jamie Moret)
Junior Girls; Kelsey Feros, Tayla Wright, Shantelle King (reserve - Jessica Smith)
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