Irish Wakeboarders Set for Doha Challenge at Inaugural ANOC World Beach Games

7th October 2019

Nicole Carroll (Cavan) Women’s Open Wakeboarder

Two wakeboard athletes will be competing for Team Ireland at the inaugural ANOC World Beach Games in Doha, which run from the 12 – 16 October. The ANOC World Beach Games is a multi-sport event featuring all non-Olympic events, with a goal of connecting National Olympic Committees and fans around the world and bringing a different range of sports to a wider audience.

Ireland’s leading wakeboarders David O’Caoimh and Nicole Carroll will be joining 1237 athletes from 97 countries in the Qatar capital. The wakeboard qualifiers take place on Sunday 13 October with the medals being decided the following day.

From Shercock in Co. Cavan, O’Caoimh is a three-time European Champion, and has been competing as a pro for six years. The 25-year-old’s local riding spot in Ireland is Lough Sillan, where he first learnt to waterski, the same lake on which teammate Carroll trains. 19-year-old Carroll is currently ranked number one in Ireland, and at the 2018 European Championships finished in fifth place.

Wakeboarding is a sport that was developed in the 1980s and is a combination of water skiing, snowboarding and surfing, where a rider is towed along by a boat while riding on a board. During their event the rider performs jumps and techniques, and are awarded points based on execution, composition and intensity by three judges who are sitting in the boat.

“It’s great that Ireland can be part of this historical event,” said Linda O’Reilly, Chef de Mission for the ANOC World Beach Games. “ANOC are very keen to showcase beach sports to the world – and are using this inaugural Games to engage with a new audience and to showcase the sports stars and achievements of these sports.”

“I’m excited about working with a new sport in wakeboarding. David and Nicole are pros and have been competing on the international circuit for years. They are ready and looking forward to the competition.”

The qualification round of both events take place on the 13 October, and the finals take place on the 14 October.

ANOC is an umbrella organisation for the National Olympic Committees around the world.

TEAM IRELAND

Wakeboarding

David O’Caoimh (Cavan) Men’s Open Wakeboarding

Nicole Carroll (Cavan) Women’s Open Wakeboarding

Published in Waterskiing

Tagged under

wakeboard

About The Author

Afloat.ie Team

Email The Author

Afloat.ie is Ireland's dedicated marine journalism team.

Have you got a story for our reporters? Email us here.

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven’t put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full–time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.