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A 3 year campaign by Fitzroy residents, Liam Costello and Chris Landvogtto, has finally proved successful.  The pair lobbied Yarra City Council to introduce outdoor ping pong tables to the Edinburgh Gardens – a common sight in their home town, Berlin.

The steel ping pong or table tennis table was built in Western Australia for $15,460. It weighs in at 700kg and doubles as a great piece of public sculpture.

With a successful campaign on Facebook, public support for the table (supported by Councillors Stephen Jolly and Jackie Fristacky) shows there’s growing interest for engaging in activities at our local parks.

Whenever I go past Edinburgh Gardens in North Fitzroy the ping pong table is always a focal point, with a a steady stream of people lining up to play.

The record for the world’s biggest group water ski was broken at 7.20am in Macquarie Harbour, Strahan. The largest number of single skiers behind a boat turned out to break their own record from March 2010.

154 skiers startws out, with 145 officially making the record books. The mighty Tasmania Eagle ferry (owned by World Heritage Cruises) providing the much-needed horsepower.

The group effort enjoyed clear blue skies, morning sunlight and calm waters. Over 100 volunteers coordinated with military precision to convert the river cruiser into a massive 3000hp ski boat. Over $100,000 was spent on all 3 attempts – an expensive exercise if something were to go wrong.

The logistics were impressive. A 200 tonne crane attached the 90m boom that connected the 154 ski ropes using “Dynex”- a new material that’s stronger than stainless steel.

To qualify for the world record, all skiers must commence from a stationery start. They must be connected individually to a ski rope, ie you cannot have three skiers attached to one ski rope and pulled out of the water together. Skiers also must complete one nautical mile.

The great thing about the record attempt was the commitment of the 154 skiers to work as a single group.

A recent publicity exercise gave birth to an unusual new sport – neon night surfing.

While many surfers try their hand at surfing under the moonlight, this takes the idea to a whole new level.

To welcome Summer, the event took place at Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach with a dawn patrol of 17 surfers at 5.00am.

Specially designed wetsuits similar  to rashy vests featured battery packs that powered neon tubes called “Fibre Flares,” which use a  similar technology to bicycle lights.

With a bit of luck, someone may commercialise these neon wetsuits and create a brand new surfing genre.

Written by Andrew Talati

One very unusual version of Golf is played in the desert.  Australia’s Nullarbor Links holds the record for the world’s longest golf course.

Spanning 1365kms along Australia’s most isolated and desolate highway, the Nullarbor is a 18 hole, par 72 golf course. Tee off is from the mining town of Kalgoorie in Western Australia’s mid-south eastern corner along the Eyre Highway, finishing at the coastal town of Ceduna at the most western point of the South Australian border.

As part of a tourism push, participating towns and roadhouses have worked together to make the project a reality, spanning the municipalities of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Coolgardie, Dundas, and Ceduna.

So, if you’re planning on making the epic road trip across the Nullarbor this Christmas holidays, pack your golf clubs and enjoy one of 18 holes against the backdrop of the Great Australian Landscape!

Written by Andrew Talati

And unusual support was taking place in the Chile streets, an urban downhill bike riding called the The Valparaiso Cerro Abajo held in Valparaiso.

It’s great to see the evolution of sports that make the most of their environment to add a new dimension of excitement. While most traditional downhill bike races take place on the side of mountains with a single track course weaving its way through the trees and other obstacles, this urban downhill race involved massive drops from one street level to another, descending steep staircases, avoiding random dogs and moving along at high speeds avoiding many obstacles of this urban landscape.

While one wouldn’t consider Chile to have a race attracting international attention, it shows you that anything is possible when you truly believe.

The video was filmed using a similar helmet mounted camera to what we use to fill but filming our red suits around Melbourne.
One of the most amusing parts of the video is when a representative from the UCI, which is the international cycling Federation was trying to explain to the Chilean writer about the perils of not wearing sufficient body armor to protect himself.