A Wake wedding
About 15 to 30 minutes after the team of 10 wakeboarders sets the record for most distance traveled on a wakeboard, a Northern Kentucky couple has decided to get married at the water park.
Tony Migliorisi of Edgewood, Ky., and Dori Craig of Villa Hills, Ky., will be married on the dock of Wake Nation’s 10-acre main lake.
“We come here all the time to wakeboard, and it is a picturesque setting,” Craig said. “We wanted to get married outside, and Wake Nation has a beautiful lake and great old shade trees surrounding the facility.”
Tony Finn, owner and founder of Liquid Force and member of the Guinness World Record team, will marry the couple Finn became an ordained minister in Ohio just to marry the company. Liquid Force is the official supplier of wakeboards to Wake Nation.
After the ceremony, the couple will wakeboard. The public is invited.
— Staff Report
Wakeboarding records
• Longest marathon wakeboarding: The record for the longest wakeboarding marathon is 6 hours and 17 minutes was set on Sept. 1, 2004, by Ian Taylor (UK). He wakeboarded behind a cable tow at Whitecap Leisure on Willen Lake, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, UK.
• Longest wakeboard ramp jump: (male) The record for the longest ramp jump on a wakeboard is 49.2 feet was set on July 14, 2004, by Jérôme MacQuart of France on the set of L’Êté De Tous Les Records in Argèles-Gazost, France.
• Longest wakeboard ramp jump (female): The record for the longest ramp jump on a wakeboard is 42.2 feet was set on July 7, 2005, by Sandrine Beslot of France on the set of L’Été De Tous Les Records in Argeles Gazost, France.
• Most rail airs in 30 seconds: The record for the most wakeboard rail airs completed in 30 seconds is five by MacQuart on the set of L’Ete De Tous Les Records at Biscarrosse, France on 14 July 2005.
• Most inverts on a wakeboard in a minute: On Aug. 30, 1999, at the John Battleday Waterski Centre, Chertsey, Surrey, UK, Julz Heaney achieved 15 inverts (somersaults) in a minute on a wakeboard measuring 49 inches long and 15 inches wide and weighing 5 pounds.
• Oldest wakeboarder: The oldest competitive wakeboarder is Linda Brown of the United States. She competed at 63 years, 227 days on July 25, 2009, in the Battle of Bull Run Wakeboard Tournament, Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia.
Source: Guinness World Records
Wake Nation Guinness World Record
Schedule of Events
Friday, June 25
Noon — Record-setting 24-hour period begins with members of the public allowed to wake board on the lake at the same time as the record breakers.
5:30 p.m. — Professionals put on an exhibition of their best and wildest tricks and moves
6 p.m. — Weekly Grind Series local competition
9:30 p.m. — Public screening of the award-winning Parks Documentary, which details the exploits and career of Parks Bonifay
10:30 p.m. — Park closes to the public
Saturday, June 26
10 a.m. — Park re-opens
12 p.m. — Record-setting 24-hour period ends
12:15 p.m. — Wake boarding enthusiasts Tony Migliorisi and Dori Craig will be married on the Wake Nation dock with record-setting team member and ordained minister Tony Finn presiding.
• Parking and admission are free for spectators. Normal rates apply for riding on the lake.
FAIRFIELD — Peter Kennedy and his team at Wake Nation in Joyce Park love to make a big splash, and establishing a Guinness World Record is their goal.
The co-owner of the water park will be a part of a team of 10 attempting to establish a Guinness World Record for the most distance traveled on a wakeboard in a 24-hour period. The attempt starts at noon Friday, June 25, and ends at noon Saturday, June 26.
“Out here, we always try to do things big and bigger,” said Kennedy. “And what’s bigger than a world record?”
Kennedy’s kids are really into reading the Guinness Book of World Records.
“Given the thought of me being in there is fun for them — and fun for me too,” he said.
Kennedy and his business partner, Nick Binkley, are on the team that also includes three professionals: 2009 Australian National Champion Amber Wing, 2008 World Wake Park Champion Tom Fooshee and 2009 WWA National Champion Adam Errington.
The rest of the team includes Liquid Force founder Tony Finn, Wakeboarding Magazine managing editor Brian Wheeler, Liquid Force team rider Neill Barker and distributor of the Rixen cable system, Mike Olson.
The 10th spot was to be held by professional J.D. Webb, but he can’t participate due to an injury. Kennedy said his spot was being auctioned off on eBay.
Money raised by the auction will support MedLend, a nonprofit organization that provides medical missions to impoverished countries is operated by his father-in-law, Dr. Henry Hamilton. Pledged proceeds from the record attempt, and other donations to be collected on Friday and Saturday, will also be donated to MedLend.
Kennedy said they’re close to the $10,000 fundraising goal. The record-setting attempt will be exhausting, at least for Kennedy.
“I’ll do 10 laps and I’m beat,” he said of a normal run. “I may have to do 150 laps.”
It’s estimated the team will total about 470 miles, which is equivalent to wakeboarding from Fairfield to Atlanta. If someone falls or is ready to stop, a team member will be ready to go on the dock. A GPS device will be attached to each wakeboard to measure distance.
During operating hours, patrons can wakeboard, ski and knee board on the same lake as the record-setters.
There will be two official witnesses at the lake during the attempt.
The record won’t make it into the 2011 book, said Sara Wilcox, Guinness public relations and marketing assistant. But there is hope for 2012, she said.
The odds of a record being in the book are about 1 in 10.
“We have more than 40,000 records in our database and only about 4,000 make it into the book each year,” Wilcox said.
The book’s editor-in-chief hand-picks each record to be in the book. The 2011 book is slated to come out Sept. 15.
Contact this reporter at (513) 755-5112 or mpitman@coxohio.com. Follow him at
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