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Live From Wake Nation Guinness World Record Attempt

From June 25 to June 26, a team of riders, including Tom Fooshee, JD Webb, Adam Errington and Amber Wing, will attempt to set a Guinness World Record for the longest distance traveled on a wakeboard in 24 hours at Cincinnati cable park Wake Nation. WAKEBOARDING magazine Managing Editor Brian Wheeler is participating in the Guinness World Record attempt and will be keeping you up to date right here in between his sessions on the Wake Nation cable. Click here to sponsor one of the record-breaking riders and raise money for MedLend, a non-profit organization that provides free health care services for people in the world’s poorest countries.

**EVENT PHOTOS BELOW

**(Photos by: Eli Kean)

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**The team of 10 rode throughout the night to set a record and raise money for MedLend, a great cause.

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**When the sun went down, the portable lights came on and the cable was set to max speed.

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**Tom Fooshee continues the 1,000+ lap count after the sun came back up. (The final count was 1,448 laps/509 miles.)

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Wake Nation Cincinnati owner, Peter Kennedy, racks up some last laps before the 24-hour window closes.

After riding the final laps of the 24-hour event, Liquid Force Founder Tony Finn, is bombarded by a pack of reporters.

One person short (see next photo), the team poses as the event comes to a close.

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Too busy for the team photo opp, Tony Finn conducted a wedding in front of the cable park’s starting dock. “Let me get an “amen” for wakeboarding,” Finn shouted during the ceremony. The couple, Tony Migliorisi and Dori Craig, then spent much of the afternoon, and the following, out on the water.

RUNNING BLOG BELOW:

Thursday Evening, June 24

Sitting at the Orlando airport waiting for my delayed flight, I can’t help but be excited about the event tomorrow. I’ve heard such great things about Wake Nation Cincinnati and tomorrow at noon I will finally experience what it is all about.

There’s a lot going on tomorrow at Wake Nation Cincinnati. First at noon, 10 of us riders will kick off the Guinness World Record attempt. Later in the afternoon, the cable park’s weekly qualifier event for cable nationals is going to be held, while our crew continues the 24-hour effort. I’m really looking forward to watching the local talent ride as well. Looks like I might be a guest judge, taking a bit of a break from the 24-hour marathon.

Riding through the night is going to be interesting. I’m kind of worried actually. We’ve been working hard on sending WAKEBOARDING‘s next issue to print this week, so sleep has been scarce. Hopefully, tonight’s sleep will leave me well rested and ready to take on so much riding in 24 hours.

While I’m super stoked about going to Wake Nation Cincinnati for a lot of reasons, another reason I wanted to be part of this ground-breaking event is because it will raise money for a great cause, MedLend, which provides free health care for a lot of people in the world that need it most.

Scroll to the top for a link to contribute to this great cause.

Brian Wheeler

Managing Editor

WAKEBOARDING

Friday, June 25, 2:15 p.m.

Two hours into this record-setting day of riding at Wake Nation, everyone is having a great time, both on and off the water. We’ve each put in a couple of sessions so far, with most of us riding 10 laps or so at a time.

My second go around may have earned me an informal record for shortest distance traveled around a cable! LOL! Edging hard off the dock, I threw a Vulcan, and as I landed the line tension felt just right to spin a surface 180; forgetting that I had such monster fins on my board, I hooked up my heel edge and fell hard. Luckily the next rider quickly hit the water, so we could maximize our distance at the day’s end. Walking back to the dock with my tail between my legs, I went back out and put in a bunch of laps. What a great time it was!

The setup here at Wake Nation Cincinnati is quite incredible. With the 6 towers, which are quite high, the pop for air tricks is ridiculous. Everything seem so effortless to do here. Just edge a bit, release and the cable kicks you up super high! It’s probably one of the tallest cables in the U.S.

There’s a nice shady Red Bull tent we’re all chilling in when not in the water. It’s pretty fun chatting with everyone. JD Webb, unfortunately, couldn’t make it, so LF board shaper Jimmy Redmond is filling in. It’s been great chatting with him and hearing some funny stories about WAKEBOARDING mag’s staff, most of which can’t be repeated online.

Anyways, time for a quick bite and then back out for another session. I can’t wait…

Brian

Saturday, June 26, 1:03 p.m.

As I woke up this morning (after just a couple hours of sleep), I quickly learned that I made the front page of The Enquirer, Cincinnati’s highest circulation (200,000 +) daily newspaper. (Search “multimedia” on Cincinnati.com to view video from the event.)

As noon rolled around today, Tony Finn was the last out on the water, and a celebration ensued as the record-setting event came to a close. In all, we logged about 509 miles on the cable, which made out to be 1,448 laps. A couple of the die-hard riders logged 100 laps at a time.

Not more than 20 minutes later, Finn married wakeboard enthusiasts Tony Migliorisi and Dori Craig at Wake Nation Cincinnati.

Photos to come later today.

Time to eat breakfast then log in a good long nap.

~Brian

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