(Updated news release. Original first issued on Monday 8th August)

The UK’s biggest water ski competition of the year has begun in perfect hot, sunny weather at Oxford Wakeboard & Ski Club.

More than 100 men, women and children from all over the country will compete at Queenford Lakes over four days, with the ages ranging from just 8 to 76. Among them are competition novices, a World Champion and just about everything in between.

It’s the second successive year that the Nationals have been held at Oxford and, once again, the event is fully inclusive. As well as a large contingent from the Team GB Squad, there is an adaptive category for disabled skiers and a military category which will be contested by servicemen and women from the RAF.

New this year is what is bound to be a spectacular night slalom competition to be held under floodlights on Saturday 13th. The cash-prize event will be for the top six scorers in the Men’s Open Slalom and the top four in the Women’s Open Slalom.

The competition is open to the public and entry is free, with the action playing out on two lakes. Today there are preliminary rounds in the tricks and jump events. On Friday there will be both tricks and slalom preliminaries and some tricks finals. Saturday is finals day for slalom and tricks and then the night slalom. On Sunday, all the action will be on the jump ramp.

Those taking part this year include father and son, Martin and Freddie Winter from Wandsworth in London. Martin will compete in Over 65 Men’s slalom while Freddie (32), who is a former men’s slalom World Champion (2017) and currently one of the world’s best slalom specialists, will go in the Open Men’s slalom. Freddie’s mum, Hilary, who is the reigning European Over 55 Women’s Slalom Champion should also have been competing but has been ruled out with an injury.

Then there are siblings Ben (21) and Seb (14) Turp from Gosfield in Essex, who are GB Squad skiers. Both will compete in all three disciplines of slalom, tricks and jump. Ben will be in the Open category and Seb in the Under 14s. They are not the only Turps who will be in Oxford. Dad Vince Turp is one of the boat drivers for the competition.

Eight-year-old Lara Cosgrove from Chalfont St Peter in Buckinghamshire is the youngest competitor and will compete in slalom and tricks. Her older sister, Isabel (10) will tackle slalom, tricks and jump. Last year was Isabel’s first Nationals and she is the reigning Under 10 Champion. Since then, she has broken the British Under 12 Girls’ slalom record several times and has been selected for the GB Youth Squad. In 2022 she has moved up to compete in the Under 12s and will come to Oxford fresh from her first international competition representing GB, the Europe & Africa Youth Championships in Greece. Sadly, older brother James is recovering from a broken foot and will not be able to compete.

Among the other family members to take part are GB Youth Squad member Dani Halford (16) and her dad Andy Wrennall from Bromsgrove in the West Midlands and Kelly Atkins (44) and son Noah Pollard (16) from Swaffham in Norfolk. Kelly recently won silver in slalom at the Europe & Africa Over 35s Championships and Noah has just competed at the Europe & Africa Youth Championships.

The oldest of the competitors is Carol Worship (76), from Cambridge, who holds the British Over 75 Women’s slalom and tricks record, closely followed by Mike Hornagold Snr (75) from Spixworth in Norfolk.

The adaptive category includes visually impaired skier Jill Williams (48) from Aughton in Lancashire, who will compete in tricks, and single arm amputee, 61-year-old Paul Davies from Prestwood in Buckinghamshire who will compete in slalom.

The RAF skiers include Lucy Carter (25) from Penn in Buckinghamshire, who is based at RAF High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire and David Jenkins (27) from Shrewsbury in Shropshire, who is based at RAF Benson in Oxfordshire.

Steve Glanfield, who runs Oxford Wakeboard & Ski Club and is organising the Nationals, said:

“I am delighted to be hosting a fully inclusive Nationals at Oxford for the second time. Last year we had a fantastic competition and the feedback from skiers and visitors was great but we’re aiming for the 2022 edition to be even bigger and better.

“The addition of the Saturday night cash-prize slalom for the highest-scoring skiers in the Open category is something I’m especially excited about. Skiing at high speed under floodlights is pretty special and is something you don’t see too often.

“I’m hoping the crowds will come out to support our skiers and enjoy the atmosphere. It’s free to the public for all four days and we’ll have food, drink and merchandise stands on site.”

The 2022 British National Waterski Championships are taking place at Oxford Wakeboard & Ski Club, Queenford Lakes, near Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, from Thursday 11th to Sunday 14th August.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

A selection of photos can be found in the dropbox link below. Please credit the copyright owner where shown.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/5rmfy99ix0hx744/AAD8Mb9_Bkx0VxSWhIpbxyuUa?dl=0

For further information, or if you would like to come along to the Nationals, please contact: Jane Peel, BWSW Head of Communications on jane@bwsf.co.uk or 07802 496927

WATER SKIING EXPLAINED

Competitions have a winner in each of the three events and an overall winner where the points scored for each event contribute to the overall result.

Jumping

This dramatic spectator event involves skiing over a ramp at speeds of up to 70mph (for the top skiers), taking off and landing on the water to ski away. Each skier has three attempts at the ramp. There are no style points. All that matters is the distance achieved.

Slalom

The boat travels at a constant speed in a straight line down the middle of the slalom course. At elite level the speed is 58kph (36mph) for men and 55kph (34mph) for women. The skier, on a single ski, has to go through the entrance gates - a pair of buoys in the middle of the course - then virage from side to side across the boat wakes, successfully rounding six turn buoys before going through the exit gates.

Each successful pass results in the rope being shortened, making it increasingly difficult to reach the turn buoys. Eventually, the rope length becomes less than the distance from the boat to the turn buoys so the skier has to use body length and reach to round the buoys. The winner is the skier who completes the most turn buoys at the shortest rope length.

Tricks

The skier is given two 20-second passes to complete as many different tricks as possible. These can vary from a simple 180 turn to a somersault with a twist. There are also ‘toehold’ tricks where the skier holds the rope with one foot. Each trick is worth a given number of points according to difficulty. Points are awarded only if the tricks are deemed to have been successfully performed.

British Water Ski & Wakeboard is the sport’s governing body and a non-profit making membership organisation. All its income is invested in developing and protecting water skiing and wakeboarding across the UK from the grassroots to our top athletes.

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