|
 Durban - The ARB Surf Ski World Cup in Durban in July has been given a major
boost by being accredited as an official World Cup event by the International
Canoe Federation.
The announcement has added further weight to the event,
which has attracted the interest of the world's best surf ski racers,
particularly as the dramatic increase in prizemoney has left the event with the
richest prize in world canoeing.
Fantastic News
"It's fantastic news," said Tim Cornish, who chairs the International Canoe
Federations Ocean Racing Working Group. Cornish is also the president of the
Confederation of African Canoeing.
"South Africa has been leading the way in
establishing world class surf ski events for a number of years now," Cornish
added. "The ICF awarding the ARB Surf Ski event World Cup status will
enhance the status of Surfski and will help the development of Ocean Racing as
an official discipline of the ICF."
Ocean Racing has been added as a discipline to the ICF website.
French Team Announcement
 The official ICF status
of the event has had an immediate impact. The French national canoeing
federation has confirmed that it will send a full team of male and female
athletes to the ARB Surf Ski World Cup.
Strong Australian Team
A strong Australian team has been
assembled, and is being supplemented every week by elite ski racers eager to
contest the ARB Surf Ski title. Strong entries are also expected from New
Zealand, the French Caribbean, the USA and Tahiti.
 Start of the 2006 ARB Surf Ski World Cup (Photo: Dave Macleod/Gameplan Media)
"This event has very
quickly positioned itself as the premier surf ski race in the world. It is the
first Surf Ski World Cup to get ICF recognition," said organising committee
chair Butch Murray. "This recognition from the ICF underscores Durban's status
as the global capital of surf ski racing.""Add to that the fact that at
least eight of the top ten surf ski racers in the world are from Durban, and it
is clear that we are heading for a major occasion in Durban on the first weekend
of July," he added.
 Hank McGregor - winner of the 2006 ARB World Cup (Photo: Dave Macleod/Gameplan Media)
The ARB Surf Ski World Cup will take the form of a
25km to 30km single ski championship race, to be held on either Saturday 30 June
or Sunday 1 July, to take advantage of the best weather and surf conditions for
the race.
All the race
information can be found at www.surfskiworldcup.com
Draft ICF Ocean Racing Rules
The draft rules may be found here: http://unold.dk/paddling/docs/icfseakayakrules.pdf
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed