Waking to Victory In a tension-filled afternoon at Sukay Park, Turkey, American Tom Fooshee overcame not only a strong field but also some horrendous weather conditions to take home the Sukay Cable Wakeboarding World Trophy on Sunday.
Despite thunderstorms that very nearly postponed the final, Texan Fooshee prevailed to scoop the top prize on offer of $10,000 for his spectacular win. He did just enough to beat British rider Nick Davies and current European champion Dominik Guhrs, both coming in 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
Cable Wakeboarding has been around for some 45-plus years, yet it's becoming one of the most popular disciplines in watersports. Similar to wakeboarding, cable wakeboarding also incorporates a large overhead cable system that pulls boarders around the lake.
The advantages of the cable system are numerous: it eliminates the expense of a boat, as well as the obvious environmental benefits and currently there are some 140 cable parks over the world with more cropping up all the time.
More than 5,000 people were on hand to witness the last big event of the season at the weekend but at one point it looked as they might be disappointed as a huge thunderstorm swept in, wreaking havoc with the water park and threatened to throw the event into total disarray.
Cautiously, the organisers decided to proceed after an hour's delay and the men's final was able to proceed unhindered, with Fooshee taking gold. However, a 4th place for Mike Ketallapper was enough to keep him as the No.1 ranked rider in the world.
As expected, the women's event was dominated by Maxine Sapulette of Holland, who added another $5,000 to her earnings. In the juniors, German Petri Motriz beat out fellow countrymen Konrad Rene while 17 year old Briton Tor Young took gold in the junior women's event.