What is Kite Cross/Slalom?
It is a modality in which there are eliminatory races in which 4 riders compete who must travel a "W"-shaped circuit (see image).
Each corner of this route has a buoy that the kitesurfers have to go around one by one, taking into account that the competitors start 4 at a time, making the journey in a short time. They are very fast races, so the riders arrive at the buoys together and make tight turns with little distance between them. Kites can get hooked... excitement is guaranteed!
Another of the incentives that this competition had is that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was present, as it is studying the possibility of including this modality within the next Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
For the organization of the event, we had the collaboration of these organisms: the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Los Alcázares City Council, the European Sailing Federation (Eurosaf), with Rafa González from Cartagena as vice president. ; the Higher Sports Council (CSD), the Real Española de Vela (RFEV), the Sailing Federation of the Region of Murcia and some yacht clubs.
Who participated in the Kite Cross/Slalom?
None other than the Spanish Pedro Garijo, current Spanish champion of Course Racing, a modality very similar to Kite Cross. The latter, by the way, has served as inspiration for Cross/Slalom. On the other hand, it also had the participation of another Spaniard, Augusto García, 2010 Spanish Kite Race champion, Miguel Villar and the only female representative and 2011 Spanish champion of the Course Racing modality, Elena Antón.
On the other hand, as for the international participants, there were the Americans Damien Leroy and Bryan Lake, the Turkish Merve Ceylan, the French Julian Kerneur and Bruno Sroka and the German Kristin Boese.
The Valencian Community has hosted this championship on its shores, so if you want to be up to date with these and other news, do not hesitate to click here.
