ADK - Asociacion Dominicana de Kiteboarding |
A success beyond all expectations Three days of impressive Dominican kiteboarding has left organizers, spectators and riders wanting more! After years of working towards presenting Dominican kiting through an association, it finally came together this year and gave the kiteboarding world a peak into what is going on in one of the hottest kiteboarding destinations there is. As the adrenalin takes a rest and the riders are back to training for more events, the Dominican Kiteboarding association already prepares for next years tour. After this success it is highly possible that the riders will have the opportunity to show themselves through more than one stage the next year. In the meantime, new and talented riders will rock the bays all around the country to aim for a challenge against the new champions. On the last day of the contest, the spectators got to see a calibre of young junior kiteboarders whom most likely is the future of kiteboarding. Already, these young riders are pulling tricks on a world class level, and with the support they saw through this first annual official kiteboarding championship, the possibilities are endless for future competitions. It was hard to anticipate who would make it to the top in the junior finals, but both riders gave it their best and left it up to the judges to set the scores that would eventually crown the new champion. Robinson Vasques is a 2007 newcomer in competitions and rocked his way all the way to the finals against long time favourite Ariel Corniel. Ariel holds an extremely high technical level and took it all the way this Saturday. The 13 years old Robinson got close, but is still very satisfied with his own accomplishments. Ariel Corniel is now to be considered the best junior kiteboarder in the Dominican Republic. Congratulations to them both and all the juniors, for their effort and hard work! Price giving took place at Kite Beach Hotel Saturday night, with an introduction in Dominican power problems. There's no such thing as 100% guarantee for power in the country, and unfortunately the local rock-and reggae band Open Minds had to struggle to get their music across to the public. It usually works out in the end, and the price giving was finally introduced in late night hours. Organizer Jose Armando Mieses got to hand out a wild card for the new Dominican champion Emmanuel Rondon (18), and some neat prices for in total six of the best national riders. Partying in to the early morning hours, celebrating a new era in DR kiting, riders, staff and visitors completed the success with big smiles. Thanks to all sponsors, staff, riders, spectators and media for giving this first annual Dominican Kiteboarding competition all their support and believes. ADK looks forward to a new year of progressive kiteboarding! |
And the winners are... A perfect day in kite paradise! The third and final day of the first official Dominican Kiteboarding Championship crossed the finish line in the name of success today. Mother Nature blessed Kite Beach Cabarete with what can only be determined as the perfect day. Kite Beach Hotel hosted a great number of spectators, and the riders gave it all on the water. In great sportsmanship the riders competed against each other hunting for the grand title as the new Dominican Champion to rule the throne for the year to come. Both juniors and seniors hold a level of kiteboarding that is impressive and amazing, and what the spectators saw today was nothing but world class riders. Category Open was equally intense with extremely high level and hard competition. Through single elimination, quarter and semi finals, one by one had to retreat to the beach to watch some of the riders that can easily any day make an impression even in the world cup. In the end, one rider took it all the way and can well deserved take place on the top of the podium at the price giving ceremony this evening. Fighting against the talented young rider in the finals, 18 years old Emmanuel Rondon is now to be considered the best Dominican kiteboarding athlete. Emmanuel is a local Cabarete rider who is always to be found on the water. In light wind, strong wind, gusty or whatever wind. This rider has progressed with the speed of light throughout his young career and will do his best to fight the best in the upcoming world cup event next week. Emmanuel is being given a wild card for the PKRA as a reward for his riding. Congratulations to Emmanuel Rondon with his new title Dominican Kiteboarding Champion 2007! Results from the junior finals will be published tomorrow. "I am very happy to finally make it all the way to the top, but I have to admit that I didn't really know what my level would be compared to the other riders. For a long time I haven't felt like I've had the right kite to help me give my best, but now everything has come together and I feel absolutely satisfied with myself. The event has been very nice, and the wind has been good every day. The judging in particular has been good, and we have been blessed with fair and good judges. I don't think they've made one single bad decision about any of the riders, and I think we all feel that way. Now I'm going to rest and focus towards the PKRA CAberete world cup event in a few days, but first I will celebrate with a party and an Open Minds concert here at Kite Beach Hotel this evening." - Emmanuel Rondon, the Dominican Kiteboarding Champion 2007-06-24
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And the Dominicans are rippin' It didn't look too good for the first day of the Dominican Kiteboarding Competition when the riders met for the morning briefing today. As the forecast predicted, the sky was covered with clouds and the wind blew straight offshore. Luckily the direction stabilized to perfect cross-on conditions and the riders set off in a handlepass marathon through the first single elimination heats. Even though Dominican Champion and favourite Alex Soto after his moto accident had to spend his time in the judge's tower, the level of tricks more than once set the crowd on the beach on fire. One after another, the riders showed off in world class style. Especially impressive were some of the young juniors, who even showed the more experienced riders how to do a handlepass properly. Luis Alberto, also known as el Abuelito, even got the crowd going with huge double ones and super powered kiteloops. There is no doubt that these kids have a promising future in kiteboarding if they are given the chance. His older competitors will have to fight hard to keep their positions against the juniors for much longer. As expected, the Las Terrenas rider Popo Paulino was riding hard and is expected to set his position in the pro circles in the near future. But maybe even more impressive was the one and only female rider in the contest, Cabarete profile and Dare to Fly manager, Audrey Meyer. This female rider has for a long time been a known profile in the kiteboarding world, but up until now Audrey has not been seen competing a lot. She put up a great fight against the guys, with some powered kiteloops and sweet combos, and will be seen in tomorrow's continuation. All credit to Miss Meyer for getting in there and going for it. Head judge Luciano Gonzales and his crew was kept busy through the entire afternoon, and out of the blue came Franz Olry to help set the points on the riders' tricks. Olry has been one of Luciano Gonzales' tutors and inspiration before and throughout his career and was a welcome addition to the ADK staff today. For the rest of the event, Susi Mai and Alex Soto will also be a part of the judging staff. Single elimination will continue tomorrow on the second day of the competition, and the spectators will definitely witness an even more intense and impressive level from the participants, as the spots for the finals are narrowing down. Kite Beach and Kite Beach Hotel saw a close to perfect start of the first competition day. |
Day two for the juniors They are the future of kiteboarding and had the day all to themselves. Day two of the Dominican Kiteboarding Championship presented a level of young kiteboarding that showed the crowd how big a kiteboarding factory Cabarete is and how promising the future looks for these juniors. Ariel Corniel has been in the game for a while and again confirmed through his aggressive riding that he is still progressing and on his way to the top. But several riders gave him hard competition during the heats, and there is no way to anticipate who will hit the top spot in the finals. Young talent Luis Alberto met Ariel in the semi finals and set the water on fire. Luis again pulled his high double handlepasses, but Ariel Corniel presented more variation that put him through to the finals. Robinson Vasques especially impressed the judges with clean, aggressive and varied riding against Papito in the semi finals, and the judges gave young Vasques the pass for the finals. Head judge Luciano Gonzales was close to speechless regarding the impressive level of these up and coming juniors. • The juniors show us that there is a great future in Dominican kiteboarding. They are giving everything and go big and ride hard. During these junior heats we have been especially impressed with Ariel, Luis and Robinson, and we are looking forward to seeing what these guys can do in the future. But in general, the level is very high from all the riders, he says. The wind was light on the second day, but the forecast looks good for a final day of successful ADK Dominican Kiteboarding Championship. Category Open is ready for launch, and Kite Beach Cabarete will for sure continue cheering for the DR kiteboarders. Thanks to Nuestro Bar Cabarete, day two was celebrated all night with barbeque and chill out time to load up for todays finals. The last day will determine who is the best rider in the country and send one more rider off to the PKRA World Cup stage here in Cabarete. |
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Las actividades seran comenzando con las incripciones los dias 19 y 20 de junio en el hotel kite beach. Sabado 23 List of riders Open Junior
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