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Blackpool Kiteival
Dates – Oct 14th-17th
Sponsors – Centrica, Visit Blackpool
Tour Sponsors– Flexifoil, Ion, King of Watersports, Red Bull, Deadman
Back to Blackpool for the 2nd year in a row – this time on the
It was the final event of the season and it was everything to play for in many of the fleets especially the Kitesurfing Freestyle.
The event started a day early due to the end of year prize giving on the Saturday night.
BKSA Blackpool – Images by Craig Sawyer
Thursday
The Pro Riders arrived and registered – the wind forecast was for no wind – so the heats were drawn and riders spent the day tuning the kit for the forecasted winds of Friday
Friday
All the other fleets arrived to register and the race crew got ready for the days proceedings
There was a mixture of rain showers early on however these went away to leave the strengthen North West wind.
Kitesurfing Freestyle
The competition got started at 10 am and most riders were on 9 or 12 meter kites – the sea got progressively rougher during the day with a few nice lagoons forming however the race crew only had till 4pm due to the high tide to complete all fleets – a mean feat!
Heat times and Transition times were reduced and every fleet got a result –
Particularly tight heats were the Pro Men’s where Sam Light (2009 champ) decided to enter and take the win giving Ned Taylor and Luke Whiteside a fight for 2nd and 3rd. Ned went bigger and put in more tricks ahead of Luke’s higher risk higher scoring moves – however Luke just crashed once too many times .
The Am Ladies, Am Men, Youths and Seniors Fleets were all up for grabs and it was great to watch them all in the difficult conditions
Kitelandboard and Kitebuggy Freestyle
This was one of the best beaches for the discipline however due to unseasonable Easterlies the three weeks prior to event the sand was to soft to perform so the riders went up to another beach to get all the heats done
Dave Roberts managed to beat Craig Sparkes run of 1sts in the final event in the buggies with some great tricks
In the other two categories of Men and Junior Kitelandboard it was no surprise with the current leaders Jack Elston and Greg Chilton putting in sound performances to take the podium places once again ahead of the rest of the field
Kitesurfing Course Race
With a great wind the 11 racers managed to get in 7 races on the Friday using 9 -12 m kites
Current leader Callum Edge was absent and it was Steph Bridge and Denzil Williams battling it out in the top of the fleet, Denzil ripping his fin out whilst getting a bit of involuntary “air time” – next battle was Lee Harvey and new boy Ben Todd who surprised everyone with a couple of 2nds and flying off the wind – one to watch next year.
Friday night saw the Red Bull BBQ and luckily the wind died off for this!
Saturday
Dawned with a light building North Westerly
There was enough wind to run some Ladies Kitebuggy and Nicola Hammond put up a great show to win the heat against Sukie Robertson
There was then an Expression session for the Landboard and Buggy guys to show the crowds what it was all about with some great tricks in the light wind – Dan Smith 1st Jack Elston 2nd and Ash Garwood 3rd
The Racers managed to get 3 more races in – Steph did enough to take the win – again showing the boys how to race!
The wind then switched offshore just after lunch however enough to run Powerkite sessions all day courtesy of Flexifoil
It was all off to the Venue at Cleveleys for the prizegiving and a big night out in Blackpool
Many thanks to all of our sponsors and the race crew who made the event happen.
Event Results
Junior Landboard
1-Greg Chilton
2-Tom Ford
3-Robbie Shire-Maidement
Men’s Landboard
1-Jack Elston
2-Daniel Smith
3-Steve Smith
Men’s Buggy
1-Dave Roberts
2-Craig Sparkes
3-Will McKean
Ladies Buggy
1-Nicola Hammond
2-Sukie Robertson
Open Race
1-Steph Bridge
2-Denzil Williams
3-Lee Harvey
Freestyle Kitesurfing
Juniors
1-Tom Bridge
2-Callum Asquith
3-Robbie Shire Maidement
Youth
1-Olly Bridge
2-Jack Daykin
3-Will Makinson
Am Ladies
1- Danielle Durrant
2- Polly Crathorne
3- Chloe Durrant
Am Men
1-Jake Moore
2-Pete Jones
3-Simon Light
Seniors
1-Pete Whiteley
2-Stephen Mews
3-Richard Jones
Pro Ladies
1-Hannah Whiteley
2- Holly Kennedy
3- Nicky Rudd
Pro Men’s
1-Sam Light
2-Ned Taylor
3-Luke Whiteside
