THANK YOU KUCHING, LINYI AND MASTERCRAFT FOR MAKING 2011 ANOTHER GREAT ONE FOR THE WORLD CUP     HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR from all our World Cup Team and especially to all our Athletes, Officials and our very much appreciated Sponsors and Hosts. With 32 World Cup Stops now successfully completed, we have a lot to be very grateful for.   Already we know that 2012 will be another exciting World Cup season and calendar details will be announced shortly. Mandurah in Western Australia will welcome World Cup Stop number 33 – the first of 2012 – so watch out for further details here ……

A TIME FOR OUR WORLD CUP TEAM TO REST AND ENJOY SOME FAMILY TIME     With our recent World Cup Stops each attracting between 80,000 and 100,000 happy spectators at Kuching in Malaysia and Linyi in China, it is now time to take a break and enjoy some quality time with our friends and family. As we approach the end of 2011, we can all look back on 32 successful World Cup Stops to date. Final preparations are already being made for our first World Cup Stop of 2012. Mandurah, just south of Perth in Western Australia will be the location. Full details will be highlighted here in the weeks ahead – and also some great news on our Webcast programme for all our many fans around the World. MasterCraft have confirmed their provision of the World Cup boats and support yet again...

FOUR YEAR MANDURAH CONTRACT ANNOUNCED FOR WORLD CUP – STARTING IN MARCH 2012     Magnificent Mandurah to launch 2012 World Cup Season   The 32nd successful World Cup Stop last September in Linyi, China, attracted over 80,000 spectators. The next Waterski & Wakeboard World Cup Stop scheduled for the coming March 16/18 is expected to see this increase to over 100,000 spectators. With 3,000 hours of annual sunshine and a Mediterranean climate, the venue will be the spectacular setting of Mandurah in Western Australia. Facing the Indian Ocean, it is located just 70km south of Perth. Mandurah’s magnificent waterways and Marinas make this the perfect location for the first World Cup Stop of the 2012 season. Renowned for its perfect beaches and boating facilities,...

WORLD CUP ON STAGE AT SUPER EVENTS WORLD MENA 2011 IN ABU DHABI The Super Events World Convention was staged this week in Abu Dhabi – not too far  south of Qatar in the Arabian Golf where we have staged a series of World Cup Stops over the years. IWWF Media and Marketing Chairman, Des Burke-Kennedy, was invited to make a presentation to the Delegates on “Establishing a Sound Identity”, based on our 32 successful World Cup Stop experiences.     Simone Seefreid / Munich 2018, Colin Gibson / International Cricket Council and Des Burke-Kennedy   For our World Cup, this was a valuable platform to share with representatives of Formula One, Golf, International Cricket Council, UAE Rugby Assoc , Singapore Youth Olympics, Oman Sail and the Munich 2018 Olympics City...

SHARING WORLD CUP EXPERIENCES IN LAUSANNE SWITZERLAND     Des Burke-Kennedy presents at the IF Forum The annual IF Forum in Lausanne, Switzerland, is an invitation-only event. It is organised by SportAccord Convention on the doorstep of the International Olympic Committee HQ in Lausanne every year. This time, over 200 senior Sports Federation members were invited – including Des Burke-Kennedy, IWWF World Cup Media and Marketing Chairman. Jacques Rogge, IOC President was also present and made the opening address. The first day of the Forum included an intensive training seminar entitled Mastering the Media, presented by ITV/ITN Star, Sharon Thomas. This involved on-camera training and critical appraisal. Other presentations covered building Event Awareness, Multi-Year Agreements,...

AN 8 YEAR-OLD ATHLETE SHOWS THE POWER OF OUR WORLD CUP LEGACY   One of our very first major WORLD CUP ambitions was to make sure that our legacy would be to kick-start the ambition of youngsters all around the World once they were given that opportunity to see and enjoy the skills of our World Cup Stars up close. If this inspired them to raise their standards, get out on the water and share in the thrills of our sport, our investment in time, money and energy would be worth it. After completing no less than 32 successful WORLD CUP Stops in Sarawak and Linyi recently, the impact is now showing clearly. Here is a great example straight from Indonesia today where the South-East Asian Games have just taken place.     IS THIS A WORLD’S FIRST ? Take a look at this...

WORLD CUPS STOPS TV DISTRIBUTED TO 500 MILLION VIEWERS FOR BOTH LINYI CHINA AND KUCHING SARAWAK     Linyi TV Cameras capture the action for us All 32 World Cup Stops to date are now 26 minutes of exciting edited TV shows. Usually completed within days of the Podium presentations, they are then issued globally to Broadcasters which have a combined audience of over 500 million viewers. In some respects, that is the easy part of the marketing mix !     Kuching cameras on Rider Harley Clifford AUS Once distributed, finding out exactly when each Broadcaster actually airs our World Cup TV shows is a challenge which is just too big for many sports. For our World Cup Stops, we are provided with some Broadcast schedules in advance – usually in Europe, the popular...

NATALIA BERDNIKAVA ENDS PERFECT YEAR WITH MORE PERFECTION !     Natalia has a new Pending World Jump Record Now that our 2011 WORLD CUP season has come to an end, it adds even more to the fun when one of our great WORLD CUP Stars catches the international headlines yet again. This has been an extraordinary year for Natalia Berdnikova from Belarus. ‘AND HER BIRTHDAY IS ON NOVEMBER 29th ! ‘But first, here is a little Jump history ……. The Women’s World Jump Record has been broken 34 times over the past 46 years. The first official World Jump Record was set back in 1965 by Liz Allen USA at 30.7m. To push it over 40m took another 16 years when Sue Lipplegoes AUS scored 41.0m. Strangely, it took yet another 16 years to break the 50m mark when Brenda Nicholls...

SOME REAL SUPRISES IN WORLD CUP RESULTS FROM CHINA’S LINYI CITY STOP With 22 Nations represented in this 32nd Waterski & Wakeboard World Cup Stop of the Series, this again attracted one of the largest numbers of spectators to date. The spectacular Linyi City purpose built World Cup Stadium on the downtown Yihe River bank in Shandong Province is an architectural masterpiece. The finishing touches were completed exactly on time as the overseas athletes arrived this weekend.     Linyi's Mayor, Mr Zhang Wufeng and Mr Han Jianguo, Deputy Director of State Watersports with appreciation awards from IWWF President Kuno Ritschard Following two days of Practice and Preliminary Rounds, Sunday’s World Cup Finals took place in 23C sunshine with excellent water conditions....

MASTERCRAFT POWERS BOTH RIDERS AND WATERSKI JUMPERS HERE IN IMMACULATE LINYI CITY AT THIS FINAL 2011 WORLD CUP STOP     MASSIVE TV COVERAGE BY CCTV, BEIJING TV AND LYTV   We are now convinced that sunshine follows the World Cup Series ! Following poor weather here in Lunyi recently, once our World Cup Riders and Waterski Jumpers arrived in town, it was sunshine all the way. Last week in Kuching City in Sarawak Borneo, it was exactly the same. Today was the busiest yet here. The very well managed Programme included Wakeboard Men LCQ, Jump Semi-Finals for both Men and Women, Wakeboard Women LCQ and Wakeboard Men Semi-Finals. Sunday will be Finals all the way.   World Cup Linyi – Day 2 LCQ Results World Cup Linyi – Day 2 Pro Men’s Semi-Finals...