KITEBOARDING. The final day of the PKRA kiteboarding junior freestyle world championships came to an end with one last heat being run and a beautiful award ceremony. The wind was building all afternoon but unfortunately only one out of the six heats remaining was run. The event was a great success with 43 competitors from 17 countries, representing the best junior freestyle kiteboarders in the world. The level of the young riders throughout the week was absolutely amazing and impressed the PKRA crew and spectators with some great riding and great attitudes on the beach.

The day started with a 10:30 skippers meeting where the riders were oriented for the day and was followed by the last clinic of the event. In this clinic the young riders tested their judging skills by watching 10 tricks in a row and having to give the name of the trick, the score and a reason why they gave that score according to the judging criteria. Everyone was active in the discussion and was very critical of the top riders in the world having the chance to give them scores. The clinic was done to show them how judging works and how they can adapt their riding to fit the judging criteria.

After a short lunch break everyone was optimistic about the wind picking up at 2 o’clock but for some unknown reason the thermal never got about 12 knots. The only heat that was run was the superheat tiebreaker between Heras, Martinez and Chen to break the three-way tie they had after the round robin. It was a very close heat, with Heras landing a good variety of tricks and edging out Martinez and Chen. At 17: 15 the race director decided to call the competition for the day and the event knowing that the thermal was not going to fill in today.

In the evening the award ceremony was started at the camping La Ballena Alegre that hosted a great event entire week. For the older boys and girls the competition was not completed due to lack of wind on the last day and some of the boys and girls are tied.

Girls 8 to 13 years old: 1st Heras (ESP), 2nd Martinez (ESP) and 3rd Chen (CHN).

Girls 14 to 16 years old: Four tied for first: Klabbers (NED), Menardo (ITA), Galliart (NED), Bowcutt(DOM)

Boys 8 to 14 years old: 1st Tom Bridge (GBR), Guy Bridge (GBR), Racca (MEX), Mur Peris (ESP)

Boys 15 to 16 years old: Tied For 1st Font (ESP) and Cloetens (BEL), Tied for 3rd Zurik (POL) and Delmas (FRA)

A special thank you to our sponsors that gave gear to the competitors: F-One Kites, Airush, North, Best, Camping Ballena Alegre and Chupa Chups. All the competitors were given a certificate of completion for the event and the prizes were given by raffle, with better odds for the winners of the competition. This made the prize giving very exiting not knowing who was going the get the boards, the bags, the vacations, the Chupa Chups and other prizes.

The 1st PKRA/IKA kiteboarding freestyle world championships at the camping Ballena Alegre, Costa Brava, Spain, was a great success. All the riders were very happy to participate in the event and the PKRA is convinced that this platform is a great way to educate and discover talented riders from all over the world. Follow us at our next stop on tour in Germany on Facebook and Twitter.

PKRA
Mon, July 8, 2013 12:20 am