Melbourne's downtown Yarra River was the centre of attention today from 08.00hrs. In fact it will see non-stop action till the great Fireworks display finishes at 22.15hrs on next Monday night. This enormous six day programme includes Junior Moomba, Wakeboard, Mens and Women's Night Jump, Kneeboard, Show Skiing, Disabled - and of course the Slalom, Tricks and Jump events for Open Men and Women from around the World. The attached Programme shows clearly how tightly Darren Robertson and his team run this major annual international event.
As part of the annual Moomba Water Festival, the Moomba Masters is conducted by the Victorian Water Ski Association,with partners Nautique Victoria, Autobarn and City of Melbourne. This year athletes from 19 countries will take part including New Zealand, Australia, Peru, USA, France, Belarus, Japan, Greece, Chile, Sweden, Argentina, Mexico, Italy, Great Britain, Czech Republic, Russia, Austria, Spain and Canada.
With 23C today, it was a bit cloudy and damp but water conditions for the Juniors were perfect. All the Junior Results are available now at http://www.moombamasters.com.au Tonight its damp and misty but warm. Temperatures will rise to 27C later and the forecast looks good for the holiday weekend.
At 16.00hrs on Thursday, the Athletes Meeting will take place on site. For those who are familiar with the usual location on the Yarra River in front of the Rod Laver Arena, they had a short extra walk this year over the Swan Street Bridge to the new location directly opposite the usual one. First impressions are excellent and all the usual facilities are in place. The Melbourne City backdrop looks even more spectacular from this location. Watch out for some great photos on the Nautique Jump Ramp over the coming days !
The Athletes Meeting will include a Who's Who of today's greatest Skiers. Attending will be Chris Parrish USA, Will Asher GBR, Thomas Degasperi ITA, Aliaksei Zharnasek BLR, Jimmy Siemers USA, Javier Julio ARG, Scot Ellis USA, Ryan Dodd CAN and Freddy Krueger USA. The women include Karina Nowlan AUS, Karen Truelove USA, Anais Amade FRA, Natalia Berdnikava BLR, Alex Lauretano USA, Michale Briant AUS, Marion Mathieu FRA and Marie Vympranietsova GRE. Missing and now recovering from injury this year are Jaret Llewellyn CAN and June Fladborg DEN. The stage is set.
At 08.00hrs on Friday, the Moomba Masters Open Division kicks off with Women's Slalom, followed by Men's and Women's Jump and Wakeboard. While there will not be a Webcast, the results will be posted live at http://www.moombamasters.com.au