An athlete from Reading will represent Great Britain at the European & African Wakeboard & Wakeskate Championships this week.

Dale Crossley, 38, is the team captain of 23 cable wakeboarders heading to Denmark, after winning gold at the recent World Wake Association Wake Park World Championships.

He is joined by fellow Berkshire-man Ryan Marston, 17, from Windsor, and Kieren Smith from just over the county border in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire; for both of whom this will be their first Europeans.

The squad will compete in a variety of age categories including Juniors, Open and Veterans.

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The youngest GB competitor is 11-year-old Marley O’Toole from Camberley in Surrey, who is a pupil at Ravenscote Junior School. He has recently returned from competing for Team GB in boat wakeboarding - at the World Championships in Italy and the Europeans in Germany.

The oldest competitor for GB is Joe Wooding ,44, from Bedford who will go in the Veteran Men category.

Medals are up for grabs not just in wakeboarding but also in wakeskating. The difference between the two is that wakeboarders wear boots that are attached to the board (like snowboarders) while wakeskaters stand directly on the board (like skateboarders).

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In cable wakeboarding and wakeskating riders use a cable tow and perform tricks over obstacles or features at a specially designed wake park.

They are scored on the difficulty and variety of their tricks and how well they perform them, for example their airtime, height, control and style.

The other form of wakeboarding is practised behind a boat where the riders are towed on a rope and use the large wake created by the boat to perform their tricks.

The 2022 IWWF* European & African Cable Wakeboard & Wakeskate Championships take place at Thy Cablepark in Thisted in north west Denmark.

The first action on the water will be the qualification rounds in the Open categories on Monday 22nd August. The Championships conclude on Saturday 27th August.