MIRACULOUS MOOMBA RECOVERY PRODUCES GREAT PERFORMANCES ON SEMI-FINAL SUNDAY

Just 24 hours ago, many thought that the 50^th Anniversary Moomba Masters here in Melbourne would be canceled. With sudden 120 kph winds, a frightening and unprecedented hailstone storm, shredded trees, flooded roads and ice accumulations all over the place, it had the air of a calamity Movie. This morning, on arrival at daybreak at the Yarra River site, the floating debris posed a real challenge for the organizers. However, this is Australia and the “can do” attitude will always win. Within 30 minutes or so, a team of volunteers went up river in tiny flat-topped boats to trap the debris before it arrived on site. It worked. What followed was an action packed day – with sunshine – which included the Womens Slalom Semi-Final, Men and Womens Tricks Semi-Finals, Men and Womens Jump Semi-Finals, plus Mens Slalom Semi Finals. Following the life-threatening weather of yesterday, this was an enormous achievement by the 50^th Moomba team.

For all the results, go to : http://www.moombamasters.com.au/results.htm

The highlights of the recovery day included the following :

Women’s Slalom Semi-Final – Belgium’s Kate Adriaensen’s top score victory of 2 buoys on the 11.25m line to beat Regina Jaquess USA, Karen Truelove USA and Karina Nowlan AUS.

Men’s Tricks Semi-Final – Adam Sedlmajer’s victory of 9650 points over Ryan Dodd CAN and Timothy Bradstreet AUS

Women’s Tricks Semi-Final – Natalia Berdnikava BLR victory of 8140 points over Michale Briant AUS and Cathryn Humphrey AUS

Men’s Jump Semi-Final – Freddy Krueger USA victory of 66.7m over Damien Sharman GBR and Scott Ellis USA

Men’s Slalom Semi-Final – Chris Parrish USA victory of 5.5 buoys on the 10.75m line over Will Asher USA and Marcus Brown USA

Women’s Jump Semi-Final – Natalia Berdnikava BLR victory of 51.1m over Anais Amade FRA and Regina Jaquess USA

As the day came to a close, the skies again darkened and we can only hope that the very talented Moomba Masters team is not presented with any more extraordinary challenges in the Monday Finals. This has certainly been a 50^th Moomba Masters to remember and with some very impressive performances by the athletes.