Club makes waves with championships
Water Ski Club tests the waters at slalom competition
Rain delayed the start of the Niagara Regional Slalom Championships at The Greater Niagara Water Ski Club-T's-Pond in Port Colborne Saturday morning.
But once things cleared up enough, about a dozen waterskiers took to the man-made pond — on Forkes Road East just off Highway 140 — owned by Teresa Wiwchar.
“This is a C-class tournament. The scores will count for Canadian rankings but will not be submitted for world rankings,” said Wiwchar, who was competing in the event.
She said one of the categories at the event was Learn to Compete (LTC).
“Skiers go out and do four passes guaranteed and if they fall they get picked up and can try again until they get four. If they go into LTC, their scores don’t even count for Canadian rankings.”
Wiwchar said it’s more about
getting a feel for a having a judge in the towboat watching, learning to waterski in a tournament and get a feel for competing.
She’s hoping that next year’s Niagara Regional Slalom Championships will be world record capable.
“You do draw more skiers and more high-level skiers when you’re world record capable.”
Three weeks ago, the 2019 Eastern Canadian Water Ski Championships were held at Forkes Road East site, with athletes from across Ontario, Quebec and beyond taking part.
As for the turnout on Saturday, she said it was lower than expected.
“The Canadian Nationals were last weekend and so people are a little burned out from that. Next year, we’ll look at a different date and spread it our from the nationals.”
Saturday’s event was also the third, and last, tournament of the season on the 11.6-hectare site but people can still contact her and learn to waterski until at least mid-September.
“We’ll open mid-May next year.”
Wiwchar’s hoping to have at least three tournaments next season but will have to wait until Water Ski and Wakeboard Ontario sets its schedule to see what comes her way.