Former Parkes boy Bailey Cunningham is now the number one jet ski racer in Australia after claiming the Australian Title in GP Runabout.
At the end of last year Bailey had an impressive list of achievements to his name but now six months into 2024 he has added number one in Australia, cover of the International Jet Ski Magazine and medals from the Royal Life Saving Association for his rescue of a fellow racer in South Korea last year to that list.
Bailey travelled to Victoria and Newcastle to claim the Australian Title in GP Runabout earlier this year.
After claiming this title Bailey is now ranked the number one jet ski rider in Australia.
For his efforts Bailey made the cover of the international jet ski magazine, ProRider.
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Bailey has been jet ski racing since the age of 16 and to pursue his jet ski racing dreams Bailey and his parents moved from Parkes to Cleveland Queensland.
The Australian number one jet ski racer has been racing professionally for six years and competes in the Pro Runabout GP which is the fastest jet ski class in the world.
Bailey has multiple Queensland titles to his name and he has also claimed the New Zealand Title in Pro/Am in 2017, was runner-up at the Australian Nationals in 2018 and was top 8 in the Pro GP Runabout World Cup.
Last year Bailey jumped into action during the first race of the Chung 1 National Grand Prix in South Korea when he saw a jet ski and rider fly into the sky in front of him while he was riding 120km/h before they landed down together.
Bailey abandoned the race to assist to help his fellow competitor, Swedish jet ski racer Christian Cagnard.
Christian was found unconscious and face down in the water, Bailey dived into the water and turned Christian onto his back and with the help of race crew, positioned Christian who was still unconscious onto the back of his jet ski, taking care to support Christian's neck.
Christian regained consciousness on the way back to shore.
The Swedish rider's injuries included eight broken ribs, a fractured eye socket and fluid on the lungs.
In May this year the Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS) Queensland took the opportunity to recognise Bailey's quick actions that likely saved Christian's life that day by awarding him with the RLSS Commonwealth Rescue Medal.
Christian and his wife were both present at the presentation and now the footage of Bailey saving Christian's life is used to train other competitors.
Bailey is now preparing for competitions in Queensland including the Queensland State Titles and Cameron Martin Memorial.
After the local competitions in Australia Bailey will be jetting off to race in the World Cup in Thailand representing Australia.
