Harley revs up for world wakeboard hat-trick

Russell Reid, The West Australian March 15, 2013, 7:51 pm
Harley revs up for wakeboard hat-trick

Harley Clifford

World wakeboard champion Harley Clifford has promised some stunning new manoeuvres at the Eyres Action Sports Games in Mandurah this weekend.

Clifford has made the first stop on the Australian International Waterski and Wakeboard Federation World Cup his own, claiming the past two Mandurah wakeboard finals.

The 19-year-old, who took out last year's World Cup title, said he was primed to win the West Australian contest for a third consecutive year.

"I'm pretty excited to come back," Clifford said.

"It's a good place to be and I've been practising pretty hard the past couple of months and am ready to get back into the swing of things and win Mandurah. I'm going for the hat-trick."

Based in Florida for eight months of the year, wakeboarding wonder Clifford was born in New South Wales but moved to Queensland as a young boy where he spends the remaining four months.

The master aerialist said he had been fine tuning a series of daring tricks sure to impress a 100,000 strong crowd lining either side of the estuary this weekend.

"I'll definitely be doing double flips and ten eighties (three 360 degree rotations), we'll see how it goes and hopefully the water is not too rough," he said.

"The sea breeze comes in and it gets fairly rough. It makes it a bit more difficult but hopefully it stays down a bit and doesn't get too rough this year."

Clifford said his main opposition was likely to come from 2012 Mandurah runner-up and close friend, Japan's Shota Tezuka.

"It's always a pretty tough contest because a lot of the world's best guys go there."

Harley Clifford in action.


Clifford described competing on the world wakeboard tour as "fun" and living a childhood dream.

"I have been doing wakeboarding since I was five. It was my dream to become a pro wakeboarder and now I am doing it.

"It's exactly what I wanted and I'm having a lot of fun doing it."


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