Abu Dhabi, UAE  Monday   February 1, 2010

Abu Dhabi Beaches and Flash Entertainment are thrilled to announce Wakestock Abu Dhabi 4th – 6th March 2010. Wakestock Abu Dhabi will be the first stop on the 2010 WWA World Wakeboard Series with the richest Prize purse in the sport of $50,000. As an official stop on the world series event, the competition will contribute points towards the world’s rankings en­suring the best Wakeboarders’ worldwide attendance. We invite you to a rocking weekend of world class Wakeboarding, music and entertainment.

Already confirmed, huge names are, current WWA World Series Champion Phillip Soven, WWA Wake   Park Champion Nick Davies, Us National Champion Adam Errington, cur­rent World Champion and King of Wake Champion Aaron Rathy, European Champion and four times Wakestock UK winner Dan Nott, and four time X Games gold medalist, Danny Harf.

Wakestock’s spectacular history includes musical performan­ces from Talent such as Mark Ronson, Dizzee Rascal, Pen­dulum, Calvin Harris, N*E*R*D, Groove Armada, The Streets, Carl Cox, Pete Tong, Duffy and the Happy Mondays. Wa­kestock Abu Dhabi will feature live music from the hottest regional and international Acts during the Wakestock Event starting Thursday 4th March through and including Satur­day 6th March 2010.

This latest exciting addition to the Abu Dhabi Sports Event Calendar is the next chapter in the development of the Abu Dhabi Corniche and the delivery of the Municipality’s vision as the “Ultimate Beach Experience”. The Corniche has alrea­dy seen tens of thousands of people for the Flash Event ‘Ya­salam”. The World Class Entertainment for free ahead of the inaugural Formula 1 Etihad Airway Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

John Lickrish, Managing Director, Flash Entertainment said:
“We are extremely proud to be hosting Wakestock, the sport’s most illustrious title here in Abu Dhabi and even more so to have had the event formally recognised as the first official stop of the WWA World Pro-Series Tour. Wakestock Abu Dhabi will go a long way to focusing inter­national attention on just how much Abu Dhabi has to offer.”

The competition will take place just off Abu Dhabi Public Beach on the Corniche and will feature three massive custom-built floating rails specifically designed for the event. The use of the rails combined with the calibre of riders already confirmed will provide an awesome and amazing spectacle with some radical and breath taking tricks inspiring residents and visitors into the world’s fastest growing water sport.

Mark Durston, Wakestock Founder and CEO, said:
“Abu Dhabi’s Corniche, and the Public beach in particular, is without a doubt one of the most amazing urban beaches I have ever seen. From Lulu Island to the backdrop of the city itself, and the beautiful blue waters of the Arabian gulf, I cannot
imagine a more perfect setting for this fantastic
sport and music event.”

About FLASH
Formed in Abu Dhabi in August 2008, Flash Entertainment is the region’s leading events consultancy, with a proven track record in delivering world-class events from movie premieres and classical shows to international tennis tournaments and megastar music concerts. Flash is made up of a team of in­dustry professionals, offering comprehensive event management solutions from concept design and strategic planning, through to implementation, management and evaluation.

Flash Entertainment is playing a major role in the Emirate’s evolution as a leading entertainment & leisure destination having delivered some of the most high profile events in the region including George Michael & Alicia Keys, Shakira, Coldplay, Andrea Bocelli, The Killers, Rihanna and the Ya­salam series of concerts featuring Beyonce, Jamiroquai, Timbaland, Kings of Leon and Aerosmith. In January 2009, Flash launched the Capitala World Tennis Championship which saw six of the world’s top male players compete in Abu Dhabi’s first international tennis tournament. The event has gone on to win numerous awards and widespread critical acclaim and in January 2010 saw the second year of the competition.

Flash is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Government of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Awards
Winner “Event Management Company of the Year” – Sound & Stage Awards 2009
Winner “Sports Event of the Year” – Capitala World Tennis Championship 2009 – Middle East Event Awards 2009
Winner “Concert of the Year 2008” George Michael & Alicia Keys live in Abu Dhabi – What’s On Dubai Awards
Winner “Concert of the Year 2008” Shakira live in Abu Dhabi – What’s On Abu Dhabi Awards

About WAKESTOCK
Relentless Wakestock was established back in the year 2000. The festival is now the world’s lea­ding wakeboarding and music event, and played host to over 35,000 party loving people last year. The wakeboarding competition will, like Wakestock Abu Dhabi, be sanctioned as part of the WWA World Wakeboarding Series in 2010 with the top riders in the world competing by day, and by ni­ght will again play host to some of the industries leading bands and DJ’s. www.wakestock.co.uk

About the WWA Wakeboard World Series
The WWA Wakeboard World Series is a global contest series that brings together the top athletes in the sport of wakeboarding to battle it out for over $200,000 in total prize money throughout the year. In 2010, the series will incorporate 6 different events and will visit 6 countries on 4 continents. Riders will compete and earn points based on their ranking at each event in order to crown an overall winner at the end of the series. Wakestock Abu Dhabi is the first event of the season, setting the pace for the rest of the World Series and determining who will go into the second event in Brazil as the top seeded rider. www.thewwa.com