Waterford quays host Grand Prix

SLEEK, powerful and racy - and that was just the beautiful creatures attending the world championship powerboats event taking place in Waterford over the weekend, not to mention the machines themselves.

Live television images from the pulsating power boating world championships will be beamed into 170 million homes globally. And highlights of the UIM F1 Grand Prix taking place on the quays of Waterford city will be viewed by more than 500 million enthusiasts worldwide.

Drivers from 14 different nations will be reaching speeds in excess of 140mph along the city quays today and tomorrow (ok) as the Irish leg of the World Championships gets underway this afternoon.

The spin-offs for the city and the South East will be phenomenal and the organisers of the event have confirmed they want to make it an annual feature in their calendar of World Championhsips build-up, such are the facilities they have in the area.

City Mayor Oliver Cleary said Waterford simply couldn’t buy such exposure and was looking forward to welcoming more than 45,000 visitors to the region over the weekend.

“This is simply a great weekend for Waterford city. We are starting to use the river the way we should be. This is the greatest event on our river for quite some time and we commend the organisers, the gardaí and the Harbour Board for all of their hard work.”

Italian Mossimo Rogera won the last leg in Malaysia. Today, he faces stiff competition from the world’s top power boaters, including Ireland’s first Formula One driver, Will Chambers, from Fermanagh. Yesterday, the Italian boasted he can do better than anyone and issued a challenge to all other competing drivers to beat him.

As he examined the excellent facilities and looked out over the rough waters along the quays yesterday, he vowed to remain champion. “I have plenty of power to win this race. This course is completely different to the last one. We had eight or nine pins. In Waterford, its just a case of racing up and down. We will try hard again and I believe we can show similar potential.”

Timed trials run today at 1pm, 3pm and 5pm. The formation of the grid will be decided over the 45 minute long races. The Powerboat Grand Prix of Ireland is at 2.30pm on Sunday.