Cable wakeboarders converge on Dunbar for outdoor festival

Wakeboarding at Foxlake. Picture: Jon Savage

The event at Foxlake Adventures will see cable wakeboarders – a cross between water ski-ing and surfing – perform gravity-defying stunts as they compete for a £2000 prize fund.

Oil drums and tractors are among the obstacles they will have to jump in a series of thrilling head-to-head battles to entertain crowds.

The competition is the largest since the venue opened and will be the showpiece of the inaugural Foxlake Outdoor Festival on Saturday April 23.

Tim Woodhead of Industry Wake Parks said: “It will bring the highest level of European wakeboarding right into the middle of the Foxlake Outdoor Festival.

“We have two current world champions entering and athletes from all over Europe competing. The format of the competition is head-to-head battles, which makes it really crowd interactive. Even if you’re not a wakeboarder, you will be able to follow the competition format easily.

“The athletes will be doing battle on a bespoke wake park, which will see them jumping over huge farm crates, tractor types and oil drums. We have tried to design the course so that it uses some local features we found in the area. To have the opportunity to bring together the UK’s finest wakeboarding athletes and showcase our amazing sport in one day will be immense.”

Additional action-packed activities taking place in and around the festival – which is part of East Lothian Council’s John Muir Coast Festival on April 23 and 24 – include a 50k ultra marathon with more than 120 runners. There will also be a cinema screening extreme sport films, a bouncy castle village with an inflatable assault course and archery events, culminating in an impressive fireworks display at 9.30pm.

Over 30 bands have signed up to perform on the day across three stages, including well-established tribute acts, unsigned bands, acoustic musicians and a 20-piece ukulele orchestra.

Visitors will also have the chance to try out wakeboarding, now the UK’s fastest growing sport plus the above-water “FoxFall ropes course”.

James Barbour, Director at Foxlake, said: “We are delighted to be hosting this International-class wakeboarding competition, which is our biggest one yet, especially on the day of our first-ever Foxlake Outdoor Festival. The event will be a brilliant day for sporting enthusiasts and families looking for a unique, fun and action-packed day out.”

Councillor John McMillan, the council’s spokesman for Economic Development and Tourism, said: “We’re delighted that the first-ever Foxlake Outdoor Festival is part of the John Muir Coast Festival. It features so many firsts for East Lothian and will demonstrate the full range of what there is to offer along our beautiful coast.”

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