Kiteboarding for Cancer
“Kiteboarding 4 Cancer is a festival for all that celebrates life through the healing powers of the elements, benefiting a cause that affects all of us – cancer.” Explains the event organisers. “The main event is a 6-hour endurance kiteboarding race that challenges even the most fit watermen & women physically and mentally. This is the Kite Derby, designed to embody the battle that someone facing cancer endures every day.”
Have you ever kiteboarded for 6 hours straight? Chances are you haven’t, because such a display of endurance isn’t easy! Nor is the battle with Cancer, and that’s just what the event is designed to illustrate. Winning the battle was Brandon Scheid, Carol Bolstad, Team Patagonia Randoms and Vetea Boersma who all took first place in their categories, but really, everyone won! With such a great vibe, fantastic weather (despite a terrible forecast) and support from everyone on the beach, yet again Kiteboarding 4 Cancer stands tall as one of the best kiteboarding events in the world.
How do you keep 154 kiteboarders from running into each other in the narrow Hood River though? You set a Derby course. Three buoys, lap counters on the beach, ready, set, kite! The winner is the person who does the most laps in 6 hours, and it’s open to everyone (as long as they can ride upwind). Sponsors pay by the lap usually, so the more laps, the more dollars get contributed! Watching it in action is a sight to behold, as seen here in
Check out this gallery of images from the Kiteboarding 4 Cancer event, and if you think you’d like to run an event like this in Australia, get together with a few mates and make it happen!