RECORD BREAKING, Kite surfing, CHANNEL CROSSING FAMILY

A Fun Family Day out - Whose Great Idea was this??

Ralph Crathorne (aged 51) and his two daughters Lucy (21) and Polly (16) think they have just broken 3 records in Kite surfing across the channel from Dungeness to Boulogne in 3 hours and 40 minutes:-. 

1.  Lucy and Polly are the first Women to kite surf the channel to France
2.  Polly is the youngest person at 16 to have kite surfed across and
3.  Ralph is the oldest.

Despite less than perfect conditions the family dodged ships in the busiest shipping lane in the world – The Dover Straits.  Having joked about going for a family crossing for some months – the dream became a reality when a friend offered to provide a support boat.

“It was all a bit last minute. Dad glued a compass onto his kiteboard and suddenly we were off – it wasn’t until the half way point and I saw France in the distance that it really sank in that we were going to make it – I just looked at my sister and laughed it seemed so ridiculous” says Polly.

“We aimed to go from Dungeness to Wimereux but the currents and light winds forced us further south – we reckoned we had covered about 30 miles before we made it to the Boulogne Harbour walls where my wife hauled us on board under the noses of the French Police waiting menacingly on the beach.” ** said Ralph Crathorne.

The family used Cabrinha Kites and Wizard kite boards to make their crossing – Polly Crathorne who finished second overall in the Ladies Amateurs’ freestyle section of the BKSA UK 2009 kite surf tour and is currently lying second in this year’s tour said I am really excited to have just been invited to become a UK team rider for Cabrinha”

**Editors note; the family notified the HM Coastguard and kept them informed throughout, however by order of the Maritime Prefect of the Channel and the North Sea (number 14/93) the French Maritime Authorities prohibit crossings of the Pas de Calais by unconventional means and/or in unorthodox craft

3 British Riders travelled to France for the European Junior Kitesurf Cup 13-16th May 2010. The event was held at Saint Pierre la Mer in strong off shore winds of around 30-40 knots.

Race director Pierre allowed the under 13 category to freeride on day 1 which was great to ease nerves. Day 2 the heats were drawn and it was party time for the UK team. Robbie, age 13 came up against other talented riders in a single elimination style event. Riding powered on his Flexifoil 5m kite, Robbie nailed high kite loops, raileys & hooked in transitions. A great style of riding, this event was a superb learning curve for Robbie who is more motivated than ever to nail new moves.

Youngest of the Bridglets Tom, now age 9, had a blinder of a heat against his older brother Oliver (age 12). A text book 8 minutes of kite loop pass, blind, slims and KGB – all on his 4m North Evo. Tom just blew everyone away with his level of technical riding.  Many thought he had enough to take the under 18’s & he was the talk of the beach!!! Tom earned his place in the semi-final and had enough time to change & chill on the beach while watching his older brother do it the hard way! Oliver made an impressive come back, beating Dutch rider Wouter (age 13) and an Italian rider before getting to the final with Tom and Liam Whalley, a 13 year old rider from Tarifa. The final of the under 13’s was just as impressive as the other age categories. Tom went for a slim early, crashed the landing and spent too long body dragging back to his board. Liam landed a blind judge, 313 and high powered kite loop while Oliver got more blind landings, and powered tricks to give him the 1st place overall.

The final 2 days of competition took the form of big air & best trick contest which was a great chance for the UK riders to gain valuable heat experience. Gusty, up to 40knot winds & in these super challenging conditions the boys mixed it up with the older categories & ripped.

Flying the BKSA flag the UK boys were professional & showed team spirit. The event was well organised, easy to get to from the UK, offered amazing prize money and is a must for any under 18's next year.

Results 13 & under

1st: UK | Oliver Bridge. Sponsors Edge Watersports, Xcel, North Kiteboarding, Ion
2nd: Spain | Liam Whalley
3rd: UK | Tom Bridge. Sponsors Edge Watersports, North Kiteboarding, Ion, Xcel

Kirsty Jones, 3 X Kitesurf World Wave Champion is back on her home ground in Wales for a couple of weeks helping others to reform their lives through the power of the wind and a kite.

On Tuesday 20th April, Kirsty Jones is teaming up with The Wallich Charity, Gower Kiteriders and Ocean Therapy to provide a day of kite flying and an introduction to kitesurfing in Swansea Bay, South Wales.

The Wallich charity finds lasting solutions to homelessness by working with those who are homeless, or in danger of becoming homeless, often with severe addiction problems. The Wallich provide help for people with multiple, complex needs; people who, because of their high support needs, are often banned or excluded from other services and have difficulty in accessing any other accommodation.

Kirsty?s passion is not only the sea and her sport but also to offer opportunities for others less privileged, whether it?s teaching them to surf, kitesurf or just experience the joy of flying a kite. Kirsty believes that small things like this can really turn a persons mind set around to a more positive feeling, and appreciation for the elements and nature.  Kirsty quotes ?Sometimes just focusing on flying a kite or being in the sea can help people take a break from a vicious addictive cycle?

Being 3 X world champion in her sport is not what Kirsty cares about. 

What is more important to her is to help others and show how a sport can be used for the powers of good.

Supported by, and in conjunction with her sponsors Animal, North and ION, Kirsty will be offering many other opportunities similar to this for various charities worldwide and hopes to lift people?s spirits all over the globe by the power of a kite and the magical, healing energy of the sea.

www.kirstyjones.com
www.oceantherapy.org
www.gowerkiteriders.com
www.wallich.com

For news and photos from the event please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

After coming back from an injury in 2008, Johara set her goal for the 2009 PKRA World Tour for top 5.  With only 4 events for this year, there were no discards making this year different from most.

Johara started the year with a 5th place in Leucate, France.  She then made the difficult choice to head to Turkey on a video trip with fellow UK miscreants and miss the Fuerteventura event.  In the St Peter Ording event in Germany she managed to beat former World Champ Kristin Boese and finish in 7th place.  The final of the PKRA World Tour was held in New Caledonia last week and Johara bagged 4th place behind Bruna Kajiya (1st), Karolina Winkowska (2nd) and Gisela Pulido (3rd) to finish 5th overall on the World Tour for 2009.

The beginning of 2010 will take Johara back to the snow for the Snowkite Masters in Serre Chevalier, the 2S Echo 2010 Wind Festival by Kitaddict and the US Snowkite Masters.  It will then be back to the water for an onslaught of the 2010 PKRA World Tour.

West Oxfordshire athletes scoop the Extreme and Disabled sportsperson of the year awards

West Oxfordshire’s Tom Butler and Eleanor Hubbert took top honours at the Oxfordshire Sports Awards on Friday 13th November 2009, winning Extreme Sportsperson of the Year and Disabled Sportsperson of the Year respectively.

The winners of the Oxfordshire Sports Awards 2009 were announced at a glitzy gala awards evening at the Kassam Stadium organised by the Oxfordshire Sports Partnership. The trophies were presented by Jo Thoenes and Brennan Nicholls from BBC Oxford.

Tom (17) attends Chipping Norton Secondary School and is studying for his A Levels.   In 2009 Tom became the Professional Slope style winner at Westward Ho competing against 2 international riders.  He also achieved second place overall in the British Amateur Men Kite surfing Championships (for the second year running). 
Tom dedicates every weekend and school holidays to training, travelling at least 2 hours to any beach in the country, which has the right wind direction.  Despite living so far from the sea, the distance is not a barrier and he demonstrates massive commitment and enters all British Kite Surfing Association (BKSA) events (7 in total ranging from Cornwall to the far North East).  All this, as well as studying for his A levels which is a massive undertaking with all the training that he needs to do to maintain and improve his level in this sport.

Tom is a very positive role model to both the junior and adult members of the BKSA – always happy to help them out and advise them, or give them a hand on the beach, or supporting them and cheering them on in training and competitions.   His aim is to compete in world events and he plans to continue to train hard and raise the funds needed to be able to achieve this.

Eleanor (12) is a member of Witney Road Runners Athletics Club. She has competed in the CP (Cerebral Palsy) Sport Grand Prix series events in Bristol, West London, Wigan and Nottingham this year and also took part in the UK Athletics Aviva Parallel Success program and qualified for the 100 metres at the Disability Sports Events National Championships in Blackpool for the under 15 & 17 age groups.
She achieved a 100 metre PB of 20.9 seconds (which is 0.2 seconds outside the CP Sport National age group record.  In addition to this, she achieved a 200 metre PB of 46.40 seconds) and a discus PB of 8.87 metres, both of which make Eleanor the CP Sport National age group record holder in these events.  It is important to note here that the two records were achieved in the 3rd heat of the Heart of England series, held at Leamington in September, which is an able-bodied event.
In March of this year, Eleanor received the Female Athlete of the Year award for the 2008 CP Sport Grand Prix Series.

Both Eleanor and Tom received their awards in front of over 320 guests. The awards aim to recognise the sporting talent and dedication we see across the county throughout the year. 
The 35 finalists in the 12 award categories were chosen from over 80 nominations this year.  The amount of talent and true devotion and enthusiasm for their sport that was seen on the evening was enormous. 

The full list of winners for 2009:

Club of the Year,
Oxford City Football Club
Disabled Sportsperson of the Year
Eleanor Hubbert – Witney Road Runners Athletics Club
Coach of the Year, sponsored by Gladstone Health and Leisure:
Lindsay Powell, City of Oxford Swimming Club
Extreme Sportsperson of the Year:
Tom Butler – Kite Surfing
Junior Sports Team of the Year, sponsored by Oxford City Council Leisure Services:  Chinnor Rugby Football Club U16s (2008/2009 season)
Junior Unsung Hero, sponsored by Nexus Community
Alice Moger - Young Netball Lead and Assistant Coach
Sports Team of the Year, sponsored by The Oxford Science Park
City of Oxford Rowing Club, Women’s Tier 1 Squad
Junior Sportsperson of the Year, sponsored by RM
Holly Holden, City of Oxford Rowing Club
Unsung Hero
Maggie Fisher, Volunteer netball coach, Chair of Oxfordshire Netball, Treasurer of Vale Netball Club
Veteran Sportsperson of the Year:
Karl Bushell, Kidlington Forum Table Tennis Club
Sportsman of the Year
Keith Arnold, Record-breaking Oxfordshire cricketer, Minor Counties Cricket, Oxfordshire County Cricket Club and Banbury Twenty Cricket Club
Sportswoman of the Year, sponsored by Fusion- Lifestyle
Hannah England, World class 1500m athlete, City of Oxford Athletics Club

On Tuesday 22nd September 2009, Andrew Ward  33 year old Father of 3 successfully kite surfed the English Channel from Alderney in the Channel Islands to Sandbanks in Poole Dorset-UK Main land. The Distance is just under 70 Nautical miles. Andrew planned this for 10 months during that time he maintained a website detailing all the training and fundraising to raise the profile and make the challenge as much of a success as possible. All proceeds will go to a charity similar to that of ‘Help 4 Heroes’ called the Special Boat Service Association.

Already £3000 has been raised with pledge of nearly another £2000 still to come in.

The Support Team consisted of x 2 Support RIBS provided by JM Yachting, David Hartwell-Manager of The WaterSports Academy, Mark Enticknapp-Photographer from Extreme Visuals, Tom Herring from Galvanized Media and Shawn Bullivant from First Line Response who provided medic cover if needed.

There were 2 sets of  dates in September 2009 when Nic Lonsdale HM Coastguard advised would be best to depart Alderney as early in the morning with the tide being Slack giving Andrew a safer chance of getting off the Island and out into the Channel hence avoiding being taken either south down the tidal streams such as the ‘Alderney Race’ and ‘Swinge’. These dates were September 7th-12th and 22nd-26th. For the first set of dates a High pressure from the north saw us with strong North Easterly winds which would not have been ideal as that would have caused Wind against tide issues.

The Team closely monitored the weather forecast leading up to the 2nd set of dates and as Early as 17th September it was looking like Tuesday 22nd September could be a promising date with a forecast 12-16 knots from a South West-Westerly. These condition would be optimum to make the crossing and right up until Monday 21st September the complete Team were put on standby. At 0830hrs on Monday 21st September Andrew and Dave Hartwell made the decision that despite the wind forecast only be 12-16 knots this should be the date to do it as the rest of that week was no good on all the wind forecasting sites and an extension of the challenge into October would carry additional challenges as the Sea and Air temperature would drop.

At that point flights were booked and Coxswains of the RIBS started to prepare their RIBS for departure from Hamble in Southampton. Andrew, Dave, Mark, Tom and Shawn all flew over to Alderney on the Monday courtesy of Aurigny Airlines who sponsored us and the Coxswains- James and Trevor from JM Yachting left Hamble on the RIBS arriving 3 hours later at Alderney.

Whilst the RIBS had the enduring task of re-fuelling 300 litres from the Main Braye Harbour using just Jerry cans and no fuel pumps the team met the Harbour Master for more details on the conditions for Tuesday’s crossing. That evening all the Team had a meeting to go through the plan for the next day. At 2200hrs Andrew went to his hotel room which was kindly provided in sponsorship by The Braye Beach Hotel. After a couple of hours of fitting bindings and fins to the Caliber and Plasma Cabrinha boards and making the Energy drinks for the Camel Bag, Andrew was a sleep by midnight.

At 0600 hrs on Tuesday the Team all met at the Divers Inn and Rea the landlord kindly provided them all with Bacon Sandwiches and coffee. At 0730hrs a beach launch was abandoned due to insufficient winds as the Break Water Defence wall that comes out of the west side of Braye Beach was reducing the channel winds by 3-4 knots. It was decided a kite launch from the RIB just out to the end of the Break Water wall would be the only chance to get going. This was successful and by 0930hrs Andrew was away on his 13m Crossbow IDS 2010 kite and a Cabrinha Plasma board. He was loaded up with a Camel bag with drink and a Predator VX360 Action cam mounted onto his Headzone Helmet and also up on the Leading edge of the kite.

The wind at Alderney dropped to 8-10 knots and it was becoming increasingly difficult to stay up and the Plasma light wind board was creating to much resistant against the swell. After a while the Cabrinha Caliber board was used and this helped Andrew get going. Still the winds were to light and Andrew was doing his best to work the kite but going far too down wind east along the channel and Cherbourg was becoming more and more visible. The kite dropped out of the sky twice and in order to avoid problems with the French Coastguards and also ending up somewhere like Bognor Regis as decision was made to get on the RIB and head straight west back along the channel to see if there was more wind.

The lines on the 13m Crossbow were tangled so the 14m Cabrinha Contra was successfully prepared and launch with assistance from Dave Hartwell. Andrew then set off   and had the power he needed to make the crossing a success. Andrew then kite surfed in one hit all the way to Old Harry Rocks without a rest. He was told to wait just behind Durlston point until local ITV news were on a RIB to welcome him in and the reception party on the beach had arrived.

After 40 minutes of kite surfing off Old Harry and Stud land Andrew came into Sandbanks beach at approx 1530hrs and was greeted by all his Friends, Family and media.

On behalf of Andrew and the SBS Association, they would like to thank all of the sponsors and support team for their immense time and effort in making this epic challenge a Success and further details and coverage of the crossing can be found at

http://www.kitethechannel.co.uk/

Tom Herring from Galvanized Media will be editing a 30 minute documentary which will consist of all of the training and fundraising and the crossing and it is hoped this may be aired nationally in due course.

Mark Enticknapp has all the Pictures uploaded on his website

www.extremevisuals.co.uk

and these can be purchased online with a percentage going to the Charity.

Anyone wishing to kindly make a donation can do so by visitng  Justgiving.com/kitethechannel or alternatively e-mail Andrew at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for further details of other methods to donate.

(It has been noted that some media cover already are stating this is the first Kite Surf crossing of the English Channel and we have enforced this is the longest Channel Crossing by kite surf and not the first as we acknowledge the great efforts of fellow kite surfers that have kite surfed parts of the channel more towards the East.)

KPWT Germany, Sylt-  15th- 21st June

Seat Kitesurf trophy 2009

Germany- Sylt, the 1st stop of the KPWT world tour 2009. This is my 1st international event, I'm feeling excited and a little nervous entering into the unknown. I am partially looking forwards to the kite loop contest which is a new discipline in the KPWT, and my favorite one, I have high expectations for this. 

Day 1

We do the freestyle single elimination. The conditions are challenging here with the  choppy water, onshore winds, and a nasty shore break, but I am looking forward to my 1st qualifying heat against Sunne Elbel, the German champion. I had a good heat and was super happy qualify into the main event.

My next heat was agents Ainhoa Garcia from Spain, I know she is a really good rider, so I was really stoked to win! Which put me into the quarter finals agents Helen Thompson from the UK! How I know really well, as all last year we were battling it out for 1st place on the British tour. Helen road well and won are heat. So I was finished for the day with a 4th place, I was really pleased. 

Day 2

The wind is light, so course racing is taking place. This means I get a nice chill out today:) I have only entered freestyle and kiteloop contests, as I have no course racing board.

Day 3

To day starts with the double elimination for freestyle. Kirsty Jones worked her way right through to the quarter finals after having an unlucky draw on day 1, being knocked out by Gisela in the qualifying rounds.  So it ended up with me and fellow UK rider Kirsty. I had never competed against Kirsty before but had seen her pulling some massive double back loop kite loops in her previous heats. I was really pleased to win this round in the quarter finals which put me back into fourth place with Kirsty in fifth place.

Next up was me and Helen. It was just like being back on the British circuit where we often battled it out for first place. This time I won which gave Helen fourth place and pushed me up into third. I am now super happy to have a third place in my first ever International event - can't believe I'm getting on the podium.

Now up is me and Kristin Boese twice world champion, guess I've got my work cut out for me here. So off I go pulling out an unhooked tantrum with a down loop,  ralley to blind,  forward loop- down- loop with a nuclear grab, etc... All was going well until the last 2 minutes,  then unfortunately, I fell victim to the strong shore break and couldn't get past the rocks  as I was too far down wind. It left me unable to get back upwind for the last two minutes of the heat. Giving Kristin the win. I was  so so happy to get a 3rd place. Finishing the day with a smile on my face.

Day 4

Strong winds today, wave heats are being run. The mens final was amazing to watch with Mito Monteiro (CABO VERDE) and Jan Marcos Riveras (DOM REP), puling off the most insance moves on the waves! Especially Jan Marcos's  kiteloop back loop on a straples surf board.

Day 5

The wind is light so course races are run.

In the evening the last big party kicked off at 10pm, and turned out crazy as!! With everyone partying hard, with the forecast showing no wind for tomorrow.  

Day 6

It's the lastttttt dayyyyyyy of the KPWT, at westerland sylt!

Unfortunately the kite loop contest never got run :( 

We said are good byes, and hit the road on are mammoth journey back to south Manchester, it turned out to be a laff and was broken up with all the UK lot keep bumping into each outer, for pit stop at the servistations.    

I had a really good time at Sylt, met lots of new people and I think it was a great experience for me to compete against some of the best girls in the world.

Women Freestyle results

1st Gisela Pulido (SPA)

2nd Kristin Boese (GER)

3rd Hannah Whiteley (UK) 

World wave kite champion Kirsty Jones, from the UK, and Red Sea Kiteboarding Centre Colona Watersports in Hurghada, Egypt, have teamed up to run a kitesurf and Yoga experience. 

For two weeks from 24th March to 6th April 2009, Kirsty Jones will be running a bespoke course teaching kitesurf improvers an introduction to their first tricks and the opportunity to improve existing freestyle moves.  Using a combination of personal training techniques, on the water feedback and video footage analysis, Kirsty will run through it step by step, move by move, giving hints, tips and advice.

The course focuses on a menu of freestyle moves which will build in difficulty throughout the week, starting with boosting a stylish and controlled jump, covering kiteloops and also an introduction to unhooked tricks.

Daily Yoga sessions have been formulated by Kirsty who is an internationally qualified Yoga instructor, to increase strength, agility and focus and are designed to prepare the body and mind for kitesurfing.

World champion in the waves, Kirsty has also been 3 times British freestyle champion and also competes on the KPWT world tour in the freestyle.  Kirsty believes her Yoga practice has helped her conquer various maneuvers and improve her style and focus on the water.  She says; ‘Yoga has helped me to keep calm and strong in the most challenging of conditions and circumstances on and off the water. I believe you can push your body and mind far harder than you think and Yoga has helped achieve this.’

 ‘It’s sometimes hard to develop your own stretching or Yoga routine alone so during this week I will be sharing my own Yoga/stretching routines to help you feel totally energized before, during and after your kiting sessions while also helping you develop your own unique kiting style that flows for you.’

‘You can expect to take away from this intensive five day course a new confidence in your kitesurfing, body and mind, with a portfolio of freestyle moves which could take your kitesurfing skills to another level.’

Jessi Shell, manager at the centre says;   ‘We're so excited to welcome Kirsty Jones to the centre. It's a real pleasure for us to have one of the world’s most exciting prospects in female kitesurfing visiting and especially to be able to utilise her skills to educate students and experts alike with her kite clinic and Yoga classes. Hurghada and the sand bar is the perfect place for learning to kitesurf and to try new tricks, and with Easyjet providing cheap seats we are more accessible than ever before.  We have limited availability on this course so we recommend booking early to save disappointment.’

Check out the Colona watersports website at http://www.colonawatersports.com/, or email for further information to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  Guests will stay half board in the Magawish 3 star Hotel which has single, double and triple rooms. 

Ends

Kirsty is a full time professional kitesurfer sponsored by Animal, North Kiteboarding and Ion.

In September 2002 Kirsty pushed the limits of kitesurfing to a new level and became the first person ever to kitesurf from Ireland to Wales, a journey of 85 miles. She did this solo, non stop, and rose over £4000 for charity.

Colona Watersports Kitesurfing Centres in Hurghada and Sharm el Sheik. Colona Watersports opened in June 2002 in the Magawish Hotel in Hurghada as Egypt's first dedicated kitesurf centre offering kitesurfing courses and equipment rentals at the best kitesurfing spot in the area.

Yesterday in over 40 knots of wind I broke the British kite speed record with a speed of 43.72 knots in the lagoon at Luderitz in Namibia leaving me only 1 knot slower the the outright British record held by the windsurfers.

This was the first day of strong winds since I got here and it was such a rush to be with the fastest sailors on the planet in near perfect conditions for speed sailing.

The magical 50 knots was just missed by the slightest margin but the outright world record was also broken twice and ended up at 49.84 knots set by Robert Douglas from the USA and the ladies record was pushed higher by Sjoukje Brendenkamp with a fantastic 45.20 knots.

I still have 2 more weeks out here and there's going to be plenty of time to go faster.

LOCAL ISLE OF WIGHT KITESURFER COMPLETES ‘FIRST EVER’ CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT IN NEAR GALE FORCE CONDITIONS 

At 08.32 hours sat 24th May, today local isle of wight kite surfer James Meaning set off from Yarmouth (IOW) to attempt a feat which many have failed at previously. Despite strong wind warning’s and adverse tide conditions James set off under rib (rigid inflatable boat) escort to complete the first ever circumnavigation of the isle of wight using a  kitesurfing board. Using a board no longer than four feet in length, and powered by a powerful 13sq metre kite, James managed to maintain speeds averaging over 15 knots.

Wind and wave conditions were favourable until James reached St Catherines Point, the most southerly tip of the island, where the seas are notoriously difficult. To make matters worse the wind increased to over 25 knots (Force 6) with the most difficult task ahead.

As most people know kites fly with great ease downwind, at St Catherines however, James now faced a 20 mile slog of ‘tacking’ the kite directly upwind in a 25 knot ‘Nor Easter’ to reach the most easterly tip of the island at Bembridge. With grit and determination and against all odds, James managed to hang on upwind, and onto the final turn downwind from Bembridge to Cowes and back to Yarmouth.

Whilst passing Cowes and blasting back to Yarmouth, James was only to aware of the busy bank holiday yachts and shipping traffic that could easily destroy his record.James, completely exhausted but elated, returned to Yarmouth at 2.45pm today, in a record time of 6 hours 13 minutes !

What makes this such an extraordinary achievement is that James had to cover almost 100 miles at an average 15 knots in order to complete the 55 mile circumnavigation.

After an impressive first season finishing 8th on the PKRA speed tour,  the UK’s top ranked kite speed sailor Dave Williams is just putting the final preparations for the coming season. 

With support from Best kites for another season Dave will be riding the latest Nemesis HP kites and is once again well equipped to take on the fastest in the world.

The first round of this year’s competition is at Port Saint Louis in the south of France 30th march. Dave said “ its been a long winter and been difficult to get much training but in the last session at Hunstanton I set my best top speed on GPS with a peek of 48.3knots and a 500m of 45.6 knots which puts me right up there with the fastest in the world “

2008 Snowkite World Championships

Maggie Cleeve from the UK and based in Aberdeen has been ranked as the best performing woman at the Snowkite World Championships 2008.  As well as the men’s events the new winter tour saw 9 women competing in 3 competitions across Europe, a great start which the organisers are hoping to build on for next season.
Maggie also achieved 2nd place at the Ozone snowkite masters event at the Bernina Pass in Switzerland, great results for her first winter of snowkite competitons.

Report from Sälen
The final round of the Snowkite World Championships was held over the 13-16th March at Sälen, Sweden.
The organisers spent days up on Högfjället building kickers, bringing up rails from the snowboard parks and digging out benches and igloos for the Nordic Masters competition. 
The first day of the event became a free ride kite session with good wind but very low visibility, with kiters and kites appearing and disappearing in the mist, and no idea how high you had jumped or sometimes if you were even moving.
The mist stayed in and the wind died for the second day, so the morning was spent relaxing on reindeer hides in the igloo, and the afternoon racing sledges on the course at Lindvallen.
The final day of competition was sunny but still windless, with just a few teasing gusts to keep everyone hopeful of a light wind session.  To keep riders and spectators busy a skidoo and a towrope were brought up, and the Nordic Masters battles were fought in a tow-in boarding and skiing competition in the kite rail park.

Results were:
Master of Tricks – Andreas Toverud
Master of Style – Claes Lundin
Winner of the Battle of the Babes – Malin Rapp
Overall Nordic Master – Kevin Steen

As riders headed home over the next couple of days we finally had some fresh powder and great snowkiting conditions on the plateau.

Round 1 Mexico PKRA World Cup 

5th-9th March 08

It was a double celebration for the UK riders takeing 1st in Freestyle and Course racing

4 times World PKRA champion Aaron Hadlow started the season well with a win in the Freestyle beating Kevin Langree from the Netherlands in to 2nd.

Steph Bridge meanwhile defended her 2007 title to achieve a distinctive set of results in the new discipline of course racing to take 1st overall.

Well done to all the UK Team - Aaron , Steph , Tom Court , Johara Sykes Davies, Denzil Williams and Lewis Crathern.

Pics above and below Roberto Foresti / PKRA