PKRA - PAROS PKRA WORLD CUP 2009 DAY-4

Powerful onshore winds dominate Day 4

Pounda, Paros Greece, September 12th, 2009. What a great day at the Paros Kite World Cup 2009. The sun decided to come out from its hiding place after yesterday’s rainstorm. The temperature was bearable, peaking at 20 degrees Celsius and the wind was constantly roaring from 20 to nearly 30 knots.

The mandatory rider’s meeting was held at 10:00 am. Van Tol announced that the Greek National freestyle competition would begin at 10:30 am followed by two course races.

The single elimination competition kicked off this morning’s events. It was nice to see the different riding styles, techniques and execution of tricks as the freestylers took centre stage. Mike Chatzilliadis (GRC, Flexifoil) took the number one position for the men performing numerous tricks with lots of variety. Chatzilliadis proves to have a lot of talent for the sport and should certainly focus his attention on training hard to achieve his goal to compete in the PKRA freestyle world division.

Course races began shortly after a brief 30 minute lunch break, making the transition time between disciplines very short for all the PKRA crew. Everyone was in good spirits and couldn’t wait for more action to begin because by 2:00 pm the wind was in full force. Racers made their way to the start line, as the extremely choppy white water splashed across their directional boards.
Today’s course was a little less long than yesterday’s. German rider, Dirk Hanel (North) proved that he had his guns loaded and wasn’t going to loose this battle for first place against French competitor Bruno Sroka (Cabrinha). Hanel was in the lead for a large portion of the final lap, but was defeated yet again by Sroka who overtook Hanel at the last marker on the way to the finish line. French rider Julien Kerneur (Takoon) took the third position.

The second race of the day was just as exciting as the first race. Bruno Sroka (FRA, Cabrinha) dominated all riders and whipped his way across the finish line. Julien Kerneur (FRA, Takoon) would have had finished in third place, but was disqualified due to an improper start. German rider Dirk Hanel (North) slid his way into second place. It was a photo finish for the second and third place position as two French rider’s Pierre Romain (North) and Sebastien Salermo (Gin) battled their way to the finish line. Romain took the third spot followed by Salermo in fourth place one second later.

Today’s competitions came to an end at 6:00 pm once the freestyle double eliminations came were completed. Mike Chatzilliadis (GRC, Flexifoil) made his way yet again to the number one spot on the results list, followed by Iannis Tamvakis (GRC, Airush) in second place and the third position went to George Argiriadis (GRC, Flexifoil).

Winners for the women’s freestyle double eliminations are Maria Kampa (GRC, Naish) taking the number one position followed by Afrodin Balasica (GRC, Naish) in second place and Felicia Constandopoulou (GRC, Best) in third.

The last rider’s meeting for the event will be held tomorrow morning at 10:00am with the first possible start at 10:30 am.