Gold medal for young wakeboarder

A YOUNG Southsider has won a gold medal in the Junior
Men’s division of the Europe Africa Wakeboard Championships.

The event attracted athletes from 16 countries and was
staged at the Vaal River, near Johannesburg, in South Africa. Wakeboarding, the
most rapidly growing water sport in the world, has been shortlisted for the
2020 Olympics

David O’Caoimh (18) from Killiney, who is Ireland’s
National Wakeboard Champion, took on the best of Europe’s athletes to deliver a
superb performance. After a tense final he managed to beat the top riders in
Switzerland, Sweden, Netherlands, Italy and South Africa.

Having taken the Silver Medal at the World
Championships in Milan last August, O’Caoimh also managed to come seventh at
the prestigious World Cup Stops in Borneo and China last September.

The World Cup is an invitation only event for the
world’s top wakeboarding athletes. There are no age categories, and it attracts
around 100,000 spectators at each stop.

O’Caoimh, who started waterskiing at the age of five,
switched to wakeboarding when he was 10. He can be found practicing all year
round on Lough Sillan in Cavan. A dedicated athlete, two weeks before the
Championships he had to break ice to train.

Next stop for the talented youngster is the World Cup
in Australia later this month, followed by the US Wake Games in April. O’Caoimh
is supported by the Irish Waterski and Wakeboard Federation and the Irish
Sports Council.

He is also extremely grateful to his sponsors Billabong,
Relentless Energy Drink, Xtreme Gene, Ultrasport and O’Brien Watersports (USA).

A student at St Andrew’s College, O’Caoimh is
currently trying to combine his wakeboarding career with his studies as he is
sitting his Leaving Certificate this June. He hopes to study for a B Comm at
UCD.

Wakeboarding is derived from a combination of
waterskiing, snowboarding and surfing. It involves the wake boarder being towed
behind a specially designed speedboat at speeds of 20 to 25 miles per hour.

The rider uses the wake of the boat to perform flips,
spins and combinations of both. There are an estimated 30 million active water
skiers and wake boarders globally. Planning has just been submitted for a cable
wakeboard park in the Dublin docklands that will open the sport to a wider
audience.