Chow van Flexifoil schrijft over de PKRA in Dominicanen. Hele stuk is leuk om te lezen hoe het er aan toegaat. De finales heb ik dikgedrukt gemaakt als je wat minder tijd hebt maar wel even wil lezen hoe dat eraan toeging. -->

For the PKRA 2008 World Tour round four we headed back across the Atlantic to the Dominican Republic and the famous kite town of Cabarete.  I was super excited about this stop of the tour, it was my first time to Cabarete and I’d heard such a lot about it.  The reports differed greatly from ‘super windy, awesome kite spot’ to ‘too choppy, too crowded’, so I was intrigued to see how I would like it.  There was no event straight before this one so it gave me a chance to head out there ten days early to get a good feel for the spot before the comp started.  Fellow UK chick Jo Wilson and Greece’s Elena Pitoulis headed out with me so we could train together.  Jo landed us a sweet pad right by the event site and it became our training sanctuary with its swimming pool beneath the palm, banana and mango trees. 

We made the most of every minute we had.  The wind doesn’t fill in until around lunch time so we’d run on the beach early, pushing ourselves a bit further and a bit faster every day, then have a cool down in the pool followed by a yoga and core strength session.  Fresh fruit, cereal and ‘office’ time of the balcony where we had a spy hole through the trees to keep an eye out for white caps.  The afternoon we kited right until the wind died early evening, taking breaks to film each other. 

Despite the tempting reports of spots such as Kite beach and La Boca, we spent all our time in the choppier waters of the event site to make sure we were used to it.  I was surprised how quickly we got used to it and I found I really enjoyed kiting in this spot as was able to learn things despite the chop.  It is so motivational to ride with the other girls, Jo helped me loads and pushed me to try new tricks so I learnt a lot.

Over the days the beach filled with PKRA riders and registration day quickly came around.  It was also the first day of tropical storms and no wind.  So we caught up on other things and gave our bodies a well deserved rest ready for the start of the Single eliminations.  Twelve girls and forty three guys registered so the first day of competition was taken up with qualifiers for the men.  This was a tough and nerve-racking day for them as there are so many super good local Dominican riders.  Me and the other chicks spent the day helping the large number of UK guys that had made it to the event.  Aaron and Tom Court were ranked so they didn’t need to qualify.

Thursday lunch time we then got to make a start on the Single eliminations.  The wind was light and everyone put up their biggest kites.  The first round of the guy’s took a couple of hours and then the girl’s first heats came round.  I was up against Lanzarote’s Laura Fernandez in the first heat with my training partners Jo and Ele against each other.  Our week’s training paid off and I felt super confident in this first heat.  I rode the 10.5 Ion3 and despite everyone being down winded I had plenty of power and was stoked to land my down loop railey to blind that Jo had pushed me to learn the week before.  Jo and I both went through our heats.    I was then up against Susi Mai.  The wind was very up and down; I went 8.5 and started the heat well before dropping my kite in the ferocious shore break.  The kite survived the shore break attack but my heat was over.

Flexi speed rider Jemma Grobbelaar also put up a good fight and entered fully into the Cabarete lifestyle.  She had a tough draw up against Angela Peral in the Singles and then super good rider Litwin, who entered her first heat with a slim, in the Doubles.

As the men’s heats progressed, Aaron powered his way up the ladder.  A particularly prominent heat was that between him and local rider Ariel, last year’s Cabarete champion.  The competition area was divided down the middle with the local Dominicans on the left cheering for Ariel and the huge UK clan and other world champion supporters on the right shouting for Aaron.  It was quite a site!  Aaron pushed on through to the final against Kevin.  These final heats between these two amazingly technical riders have become quite a regular show down.  I hold no envy for the terrible job of the judges to decide between them as they both put on such an impressive show.  This time though, the singles heat went to Kevin.

Freestyle single results:

Men:

1.    Kevin Langeree (Naish, Netherlands)
2.    Aaron Hadlow (Flexifoil, UK)
3.    Manuel David Rondon (EH, Dominican Republic)

Women:

1.    Gisela Pulido (Slingshot, Spain)
2.    Bruna Kajiya (Best, Brazil)
3.    Susi Mai (Cabrinha, Germany)

With the rain coming and going in the mornings, the Double eliminations were eventually able to be all finished on the Saturday with a nice relatively steady wind.  I came up against Elena Pitoulis, going through to a heat against Angela Peral.  I was super happy with the first minutes of my heat but then lost it a bit towards the end so Angela went through.  I finished the event in seventh place which I was happy with ? Jo Wilson got one heat further than me and finished in sixth place. 

The final heats of the Doubles were so exciting to watch.  In the girls, Karolina Winkowska worked her way back up the heats after going out earlier in the Singles.  She was on fire and was pulling out super powered passes with a HUGE blind judge 3.  When she’s on it she’s amazing to watch.  She defeated Bruna in the semi finals to come second to Gisela in the finals.  It is so so inspiring to see these top girls ride!

The men’s finals was equally as tense to watch, with Aaron snapping a line in the semi’s against local rider Gnogno but still pulling through the heat after swapping kites.  In the final, Kevin slammed his kite into the crowd which kept everyone on their toes!  Again, such a close heat but Kevin took a 4 to 1 decision from the judges to win the event. 

Freestyle double results:

Men:

1.    Kevin Langeree (Naish, Netherlands)
2.    Aaron Hadlow (Flexifoil, UK)
3.    Manuel David Rondon (EH, Dominican Republic)

Women:

1.    Gisela Pulido (Slingshot, Spain)
2.    Karolina Winkowska (Naish, Poland)
3.    Bruna Kajiya (Best, Brazil)

We all celebrated at the prize giving a successful event all round, had a wedding cake fight and danced the night away as the rain brought no wind for the Sunday and some forced at shopping ;-).  So now we’ve just arrived straight to Tarifa for the next round so I will let you all know how it goes!

Chow.