Qualifiers for Gravity Games Finalized

The final set of athletic competitors to qualify for the 2001 Summer Gravity Games has been announced. They will join more than 250 professional action sports athletes at the premier sports, lifestyle and music festival this September 1-9, when the Gravity Games will be held in Providence, R.I. The wakeboarding competition will take place on September 3.

The Gravity Games are the most-attended, highest-rated action sports event in the world. The 2000 Gravity Games drew 368,100 spectators and 250 professional action sports athletes from 17 countries. Athletes competed in a variety of events, including bike, aggressive inline skating, skateboarding, downhill skateboarding, street luge, wakeboarding, and freestyle motocross. The Gravity Games are managed by Octagon Marketing – a leading full-service global sports marketing agency and will air on NBC this fall.

The Gravity Games field of competitors is chosen from the winners of top events and tours from around the globe. The following are the final qualifiers for the 2001 Gravity Games. If any qualified competitor declines an invitation or is unable to compete for any reason, he will be replaced by the highest ranked, previously unqualified competitor from the 2001 Pro Wakeboard Tour rankings as of July 30, 2001.

Qualified Men
1. Parks Bonifay
2. Darin Shapiro
3. Ryan Wynne
4. Shaun Murray
5. Zane Schwenk
6. Brett Eisenhauer
7. Erik Ruck
8. Shane Bonifay
9. Daniel Watkins
10. Chris Law
11. Gerry Nunn
12. Evan Kennedy
13. Ricky Gonazeles
14. Trevor Hansen
15. Danny Harf
16. Josh Sanders

Qualified Women
1. Meaghan Major
2. Tara Hamilton
3. Lauren Loe
4. Cheryl Newton
5. Dallas Friday
6. Marie Botved-Studd
7. Emily Copeland
8. Christy Smith
9. Cathy Williams
10. Melissa Marquadt
11. Leslie Kent
12. Lauren Harf

The Gravity Games was created by EMAP USA’s Action Sports Group, which also publishes magazines such as Bike, Skateboarder, Surfer, Snowboarder and Powder. A leading multimedia marketing solutions and brand development company, EMAP USA (www.emapUSA.com) is a division of emap plc (www.emap.com), one of the world’s foremost media companies with more than 600 magazine titles and multimedia products including television, radio, trade shows, Web sites, databases, licensing, consumer events and custom marketing.

For more information on the Gravity Games or any qualifier, call 1-888-4-GRAVTY or log on to the Gravity Games’ critically acclaimed web site at gravitygames.com.