2008 PKRA Mexico Concludes

The Movistar Kiteboard World Cup at Playa del Carmen, Mexico draws to a successful and exciting close.

The final day of the 2008 PKRA World Tour’s first stop draws to a close with the wrapping up of the course racing event here at the beautiful beach of Playa del Carmen in the heart of Riviera Maya in Mexico. Sideshore winds averaging 18-20 knots provided the fuel for a spectacular finish as the crowds gather at the beach to watch Mexican rider Sean Farley (North Kiteboarding) eat up the competition. Farley, who won all but one race today, was the favored rider to win in this event. North teammate Charles Deleau of France who finished in second place after nine races was almost a whole 10-point behind Farley even after finishing first in the second race of the day. Third man in the podium is Spain’s Sami Gali (Best Kiteboarding) who lost to last year’s overall champion Bruno Sroka (France, Takoon) in the first race but managed to come back in the third and fourth races to finish third and second respectively. Although winning the title last year, Sroka came a bit rusty in the opening event of this season and only managed to finish in second place at best in every race.

In the women’s division, Steph Bridge (UK, North Kiteboarding) won first place overall even after loosing to teammate Angela Peral (Spain) in three of four races today. While Bridge came to the finish line ahead of the pack during the first race, Peral took the lead in the last three races but only managed to finish second overall. Bridge won a total of five out of nine races while Peral took home three with the rest coming in second place. Susi Mai (Cabrinha) of Germany came in third overall and was almost 11-point behind Peral in the point standings.

Race results (after nine races):

Men:

1. Sean Farley (Mexico, North Kiteboarding) – 4.9 points
2. Charles Deleau (France, North Kiteboarding) - 14.4 points
3. Sami Gali (Spain, Best Kiteboarding) – 17 points

Women:

1. Steph Bridge (UK, North) – 7.5 points
2. Angela Peral (Spain, North) – 10.1 points
3. Susi Mai (Cabrinha, Germany) - 21 points

Meanwhile, some of the people that we’ve talked to during and after the competition particularly a few of the judges and those who know the riders personally think that a lot of the competitors performed much better last year than they did here in Mexico. As one observer put it, “As far as the riding goes, we’re not really so much impressed. They have about five months off to improve and I think they were kiting better last year than they did at this event. I think some of them are still a bit rusty but they’ve been working on other things such as the double handle passes so they can’t progress as quickly as they did last year. Personally, I think they’ve got to work on their style and in getting more power which would also be good for the sport.”

On the other end of the spectrum, the North Kiteboarding team as a whole performed exceptionally well in the course racing event. The team dominated the competition, winning the first two places both in the men and women’s division. After the games, we managed to interview course racing winner Sean Farley and asked him about his assessment of the game and his latest equipment.

“I was first on the first race and second to Charles on the second race. Kept North upfront and then pretty much cleaned out on the last two races, first and first. I overshot the weather mark on the second lap and that just gave him the spot to slide in. I was first on the first lap but got spaced out, went too far out in the channel. Quite a bit of a current out there so I just overshot the weather mark. I had a broad reach out to the finish line then there’s not much catching out going on. So he just rode in about 20-30 feet in front of me.”

But winning seven out of nine races is a big feat, and obviously North has come a long way in creating the prototype race board that Sean used in this event.

“We have the Phantom board which was a twin tip and we sort of went to this directional board. We’ve been working on it since last year but when you saw me on the tour last year I was on twin tip. What surprised me today was Angela [Peral] just came in right behind all us guys on that same Phantom board so it proves that that board is still a really good race board, but definitely this directional that we’ve been working on is mind blowing.”

When asked about his plans between now and the next event in Portugal, Sean added, “I’ll continue working with the [North] design team with Ken Winner and Sky Solbach. We work on kites all the time, about new ideas, boards, and other stuff. We will try to keep making these boards even better. I will also be competing in some big events in the USA, such as the US Wind and Water Open and US Nationals in San Francisco which hopefully could be a PKRA event and just wait for the three races which are very much back to back over in Europe - Portugal and Germany.”

The next course racing event will be happening in Portugal on July 15 - 20, 2008 while the next stop of the 2008 PKRA World Tour will be Leucate, France for the Mondial Du Vent 2008 happening on April 12 - 18, 2008. ExtremeElements.TV will keep bringing you the latest news, videos and updates as they happen so be sure to logon to our website at www.extremeelements.tv. See you in France!

Day 4 – No Wind Day

Riders get a time off

Today the weather was generally pleasant, sunny, with broken clouds. The temperature was between 22° to 23° Celsius but started to drop down as dark began to settle. There was very little wind earlier in the morning and whatever wind there was blew offshore. Everyone was hopeful that it would slowly turn the other way around but that never really materialized. Later during the day, the wind blew onshore but it was just for a very few moments.

The mandatory skippers meeting was held at 10:00 a.m. and Race Director Eric Troostheide quickly announced a wind delay. The competition was called off for the day at 4:00 pm when it was apparent that the wind would not cooperate. It was a bit disappointing day for some of the fans and the competitors as many were anticipating to see the course racing event conclude.

On a brighter note, the winds have actually been more cooperative since the start of the PKRA tour here at Playa del Carmen in Mexico. Even Erika Sastre of Photopro Media Productions, the event organizer for the Movistar Kiteboard World Cup noted, “We haven’t had any good wind for several weeks now but since the press conference right before the start of the competition, the wind started to arrive so, for us that was a good sign.”

Tomorrow’s wind forecast is slightly better than today but everyone is hopeful that the wind will cooperate. It would be interesting to watch French rider Charles Deleau of the North Kiteboarding team race head to head with Spain’s Sami Gali (Best) for the battle for second place in the podium. With only a fraction of a point separating these two superb athletes, it will definitely be a show to watch.

Interestingly, last year’s overall racing champ Bruno Sroka (France, Takoon) has not been very aggressive in the waters compared to what we have seen him do so during last year’s season but it’s still a wait and see game. In contrast, last year’s number three ranked Sean Farley (Mexico, North Kiteboarding) have been very consistent and commanding in the courses. Looks like his training efforts in Western Australia have been paying off. First time entry Charles Deleau also is performing quite well considering he’s on borrowed board and has been giving Sami a run for his money.

Also we were able to sit down with PKRA official photographer Roberto Foresti who have been providing spectacular shots of the events since 2003. We got his views and perspective of the PKRA World Tour through the eyes of the camera and this is what he has to say:

“The [performance] level is really high and the maneuvers are much more technical. The freestyle event improved significantly in three years. I remember the older riders back then who would do slow maneuvers but it’s complete different now. Aaron [Hadlow] is really impressive because he’s really fast and ride with incredible power so whenever I shoot him, I take a sequence of shots in order to take good pictures because he’s really fast. Amazing, truly incredible.”

Tomorrow’s skippers meeting is scheduled at 9:30 a.m. and with wind permitting, the first possible start for the course racing event will be at 10:00 a.m.

Day 3 - Freestyle Doubles

Doubles Event Concluded

The Movistar Kiteboard World Cup freestyle doubles for concluded after a day of action-packed events at Playa Del Carmen, Mexico.

Nothing beats the day than seeing these young, professional kiteboarding athletes go up against each other in a day of high-flying, wave-ripping, action-filled sports competition in Mexico’s Riviera Maya. Warm weather, strong onshore wind plus the roaring crowd added to the excitement, as the freestyle event concluded with a huge success.

Today saw a lot more wind than yesterday, averaging 20-25 knots which started slightly onshore in the morning during the start of the first heat at 9:45 a.m., turning slightly more sideshore as the day wore on. The strong current caused a lot of difficulties for the Mexican crew particularly with the buoys. The riders too had their share of intricacies at different intervals during the day staying upwind, but for the most part, it was just a problem of launching and landing as there wasn’t a whole lot of beach in the area. The beach was a bit crowded getting in and out but the riders made the best of it. The women went out with their 7s while the men were on 9s. There was about shoulder-high waves coming in which made for good ramps for the riders to use for jumping up of and flat waters in between for landing tricks.

In the end the athletes gave outstanding performances considering that the current was working against them. The competition finished just in time at 3:20 p.m. before the bad weather came in.

Notable Heats

Sebastien Garat (France, RRD) made good his promise to move up the ladder with a win over local boy Miguel Manzanilla (Best) in heat #18 but only made it through heat #22 as Tom Court (UK, North) knocked him out with bigger moves and more variety.

Lewis Crathern of UK stormed passed Nick Jacobsen of Denmark in their match up in heat #23 with several powered and low kite angle moves, including a slim blind judge with aerial handle pass and kiteloop handle pass. However, Lewis’ run came to an end at the hands of 18-year old Marc Jacobs (New Zealand, North) in heat #26 via a huge handlepass front mobe and a kiteloop double back mobe. Jacobs, who had a good run up the ladder today also took out Austria’s Michael Schitzhofer (Naish) in heat #28, winning with several big moves and more variety before finally tiring out and loosing to the well-rested Alvaro Onieva (Spain).

“In the first heat, I was up against local boy Rojas Gutierrez, in the second heat against [Eric] Rienstra and then against Crathern from UK. Then I went up against Michael [Schitzhofer] whom I lost against in the singles but beat him this time. Then I went up against [Alvaro] Onieva and that’s where I got kicked out there. When I got up to Onieva, I was very tired. He was ripping and did very well while I had a lot of crashes,” commented this talented athlete from New Zealand.

Spain’s Alex Pastor (Naish) who’s one of the riders to watch this year started up his charge up the rankings with a narrow win over super Mario Rodwald (Germany) of North Kiteboarding. Mario rode very well and clean but the larger, more explosive moves of Alex brought him into the next round.

Onieva took a big stack in heat #32 and broke his kite in his match up with fellow countryman Cesar Portas (North). Aaron Hadlow (UK, Flexifoil) came to his rescue with his kite but the Movistar Athlete of the Game had lost too much time enabling Portas to take the win. Then like a dragon breathing fire, Portas smoked Youri Zoon (Netherlands, Slingshot) in heat #33 landing a blind judge 540 and front mobe 540, regular and switch back to blind airpass, outperforming Zoon with two double-pass moves inching his way up the ranking to meet Hadlow.

It took a well-prepared and well-rested Hadlow to distinguish the fire out of Portas in heat #34 with a heap of solid tricks including a front mobe to blind, regular and switch slim, regular and switch mobe, and a regular and switch back to blind airpass. Portas, who looked a little worn out in the game was out-powered by the world champ.

In the men’s final and in dying winds, Kevin Langeree (Netherlands, Naish) and Aaron Hadlow had a re-match, both rode extremely well landing several big and technical moves. It was a close 3-2 decision in favour of Aaron, somewhat contested but the riders at the beach thought Kevin won. It was a really tight match up between these two champions, a good title defense for Aaron and a showing of what’s up ahead for Kevin.

PKRA Judge David Tyburski said, “It was really a tight match between both of these athletes. The technical variety and innovative style that Kevin brought to the heat put him over the top for a lot of people on the beach but the judges’ 3-2 decision thought differently so Aaron took the win home.”

In the women’s events, Audrey Meyer (France, EH Kiteboarding) knocked out Jalou Langeree (Netherlands, Naish) in their match up in heat #14. Meyer landed several kiteloops and a big sent handle pass and krypt to surface pass, taking the win with more power and technical difficulty.

Karolina Winkowska (Poland, Naish) also took down American Julie Simsar (Liquid Force) in the same heat. Although Simsar landed a sent handle pass, Winkowska nailed a blind judge and s-bend to blind with airpass to take the win with more power and higher technical difficulty.

Angela Peral (Spain, North) won over Susi Mai (Germany, Cabrinha) in heat #17, landing a raley to blind, downloop to blind and a huge sent handlepas against Mai’s raley to blind and ralew to wrapped. Peral’s win however was cut short by Gisela Pulido’s fury with a slim chance, front mobe and a 313 in the 18^th heat of the game. Peral was not able to repeat the brilliance of her performance in the previous heat and settled for third overall.

“Today was very good because I got third in the ranking. It was a bit hard with the current and the wave but since I trained in Tarifa [Spain] and it is roughly the same condition, it was perfect for me,” said Angela.

The match between Bruna Kajiya (Brazil, Best) and Pulido in the finals was run in less than ideal condition because the wind was backing off and the current was more of an issue. Although the wind was dying out, Pulido still managed to land a front mobe, slim, 313 and blind judge over Kajiya’s non-inverted slimchance and blind judge with aerial handlepass. Bruna took the first podium position and as PKRA Judge Tyburski put it, “Again, I think quantity lost over quality. It was a really powered maneuver and it took the cake.”

Extreme Elements had the chance to interview Bruna right after the finals regarding her assessment about the game.

“Today was a really hard day for me. My first heat wasn’t so good and she [Gisela] won like 3-2 and it was really close so we had to do the second one. The second one was almost a nightmare for me. My kite got tangled and ended up all the way downwind, but it wasn’t my fault and I had to come back into the competition area. The current was like 15-knot current because I couldn’t even stand up. I think it was the most stressful time that I had on my whole career. And that distracted a lot of my heat. I only got it together by the last minute. I managed to do clean and powerful tricks and I thought I’ll just focus on doing not too many now because I don’t have that time but doing them good and powerful. So everything went well and I came out of the water and almost threw up, but it’s all good now, it’s all worth it. People on the beach helped me so much and gave me strength when I was running upwind.”

We also asked David Tyburski about his assessment of the first PKRA stop this season and his outlook regarding the athletes to watch, he has this to say: “There were really a couple of outstanding athletes in this event, but Youri Zoon was very surprising, made a really good charge, did very aggressive riding before coming out with a knee injury. Definitely looks like he’s got fire in his eyes so he’s definitely going to be one to watch this season.”

“Marc Jacobs, Alvaro Onieva and Alex Pastor are also definitely contenders to be in the podium this season. It’s just a matter of which people can pull out together for each heat. There are a lot of contenders but it’s just a matter of who is going to be consistent and pull out together heat after heat.”

Freestyle Results

Men:

1. Aaron Hadlow (UK, Flexifoil)
2. Kevin Langere (Netherlands, Naish)
3. Cesar Portas (Spain, North)

Women:

1. Bruna Kajiya (Brazil, Best)
2. Gisela Pulido (Spain, Slingshot)
3. Angela Peral (Spain, North)

Day 2 – Freestyle Singles

Singles Elimination

The second day of the Movistar Kiteboard World Cup started out very nice with the onshore wind packing a speed of up to 20 knots which was slightly better than forecasted. The water was a little choppy plus the strong current made it more difficult for some of the competitors to land their tricks and stay in the box, particularly the women. Overall, the riders did well both in the freestyle event and in the racing competition.

There were four rounds of singles events splitting up the heat after the first round of elimination. The first heat started at 9:50 in the morning between Rocky Chatwell (US, Crazyfly) and Sebastien Garat (France, RRD) with Chatwell inching his way past the French champ.

Garat, who has been kiting for five years now was last years overall freestyle champion in another kiteboarding tour. Ironically, he was stopped on early by a PKRA tour veteran in the first heat but the French rider is hopeful that tomorrow’s games would push the luck on his side.

“I did not ride very well, so I lost in the first heat. The gusty condition made it difficult for me to do my tricks. In tomorrow’s double eliminations, I expect to win some heats and my goal is to go higher up the ladder as I could,” said Garat.

There were a total of eight heats fought in the first round of eliminations. As expected, last year’s tour leaders made it to the second round including current world #13 Michael Schitzhofer (Austria, Naish) and current world #3 Youri Zoon (Netherlands, Slingshot). Zoon is actually back from last years knee injury, making his way up the standings beating three riders in a row including world #4 Alvaro Onieva (Spain) in heat #13 before bowing down to world #2 Kevin Langeree (Netherlands, Naish) in heat #15.

PKRA judge Carlos Saez commented, “I’m really impressed with Youri’s performance who, despite suffering an injury last year is back there competing. Although I think he injured his knee again but he’s a tough guy. I’m really impressed how this guy is riding.”

Zoon actually managed to secure the third podium position despite his injury, beating Cesar Portas (Spain, North) in the loosers final.

Michael Schitzhofer (Naish) also played a really good game today and is worth noting, after beating countryman Julian Hosp and Marc Jacobs (New Zealand, North) in two consecutive heats before loosing to Langeree. When asked about how he feels loosing, this young Austrian rider said, “I lost but it’s okay, he’s the winner of the event, not too bad to loose against him.”

It was also very impressive to see what was happening between Aaron Hadlow (UK, Flexifoil) and Kevin Langeree and the people at the beach were very anxious to see these two go up against each other. They both had really good heats but it was a 3-2 decision in the end that favored Kevin’s solid riding power.

The women riders struggled frantically with the conditions which required an extra effort for them to land their tricks. The final heat saw Bruna Kajiya (Brazil, Best) going up against 14-year old world champion Gisela Pulido (Spain, Slingshot). Kajiya landed several good moves but not as solid as Gisela’s solid, powered landings. However, the young Spanish champ was disqualified after making a wrong move that lead her kite to tangle with Kajiya’s kite.

The freestyle competition was concluded at 3:10 in the afternoon followed by the course racing event which started at 4:25 pm.

Course Racing

Race director Eric Troostheide together with the Mexican crew had difficulties setting up the course because of the strong current but eventually managed to overcome the situation. Two races were held during the day which concluded at exactly 6:00 in the evening.

Once again, Sean Farley (Mexico, North) won both races in an exceptional performance so far. North racer Charles Deleau of France performed equally well despite finishing third in the second race. Countryman Bruno Sroka (Takoon) managed to inch his way up this time to finish third in the first race despite lacking some symphony with his equipment. In the second race, Sami Gali (Spain, Best) starting almost at the end of the pack finished second after controlling the rest of his opponent at the course of the race to gain upwind.

The mandatory skippers meeting for the third day is set at 9:00 am with first possible start at 9:30 am for the start of the freestyle doubles and the conclusion of the course racing event.

The 2008 PKRA World Tour in Mexico is proudly sponsored by Movistar Telefonica, Red Bull Sports, Riviera Maya Tourism and the Tourism Board of Mexico.

Freestyle results:

Men:

1. Kevin Langeree (Netherlands, Naish)
2. Aaron Hadlow (UK, Flexifoil)
3. Youri Zoon (Netherlands, Slingshot)

Women:

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

Race results:

Men Race 1:

1. Sean Farley (Mexico, North)
2. Charles Deleau (France, North)
3. Bruno Sroka (France, Takoon)

Men Race 2:

1. Sean Farley (Mexico, North)
2. Sami Gali (Spain, Best)
3. Charles Deleau (France, North)

Women Race 1:

1. Johara Sykes-Davis (UK, Flexifoil)
2. Angela Peral (Spain, North)
3. Susi Mai (Germany, Cabrinha)

Women Race 2:

1. Steph Bridge (UK, North)
2. Angela Peral (Spain, North)
3. Raquel Arroyo (Mexico, Naish)

Day 1 - Course Racing Day

Day one of the 2008 PKRA World Tour in Mexico dubbed the Movistar Kiteboard World Cup was an astonishing feat. Warm weather and light wind prevailed during most of the day but the good news was that the wind was consistent between 10-14 knots. The mandatory skippers meeting was held at 10:00 a.m. but the wind did not provide enough fuel for a freestyle competition to be held.

At about 12:15 p.m., the first Racing event of the season got underway when the wind slightly picked up speed. Another race was held at 2:45 p.m. and the last one at 4:15 p.m. It took the first guy to cross the finish line between 15-20 minutes per race.

Race Director Eric Troostheide managed to come up with a nice course setup – a triangular course that brings the racer closer to the beach with the finish line at the beach.

Tomorrow’s skippers meeting is scheduled at 9:00 am with first possible start at 9:15 a.m. depending on the wind condition. According to Troostheide, “If it’s light then we might start with some more racing then the freestyle event in the afternoon when the wind is suppose to be stronger with a forecast of 14-16 knots, so we are expecting a great day tomorrow.”

So everybody is looking forward to the start of the freestyle event, including the competitors who have prepared a great deal for this season.

“I think we could have a really good show. I think all the competitors are super motivated. I saw a couple of new tricks during their practices but I’m very sure that most of the riders are keeping the good stuff for the competition,” said PKRA Head Judge Sami Gali.

“You can feel that it’s going to be an exciting season, with the athletes thinking one step ahead. Tomorrow is going to be a very important day for the freestyle because we are going to see new styles that we’ve never seen before, if the conditions are right.”

Besides being the head judge for the Freestyle event, Sami is also a competitor in the Racing event under the Best banner but so far has been lagging behind Mexico’s ace racer Sean Farley of North Kiteboarding. Sami’s been working on a prototype board but unfortunately broke it in yesterday’s practice so he wasn’t able to use it in the actual race. Asked about his performance in today’s event, he commented, “I had a very bad first race. I was the last one at first but I really managed to catch up and finished third on the first race. It’s amazing and I still don’t know how I managed to catch up.”

Farley on the other hand seems to be satisfied with his performance in today’s races, winning the last two of three events after bowing to North teammate Charles Deleau of France in the first race. Back from a six-week long prototype testing with North over in Western Australia, the young Mexican rider said, “Today was really interesting and I got to put all the hard work of the North design team to whatever I was doing. It was a success out there today against the other racers. It was a good result and I was going a point above everybody today.”

Race Results:

Men’s Race 1

1. Charles Deleau (France, North) – 0.7 pts.
2. Sean Farley (Mexico, North) – 2 pts.
3. Sami Gali (Spain, Best) – 3 pts.

Race 2

1. Sean Farley (Mexico, North) – 0.7 pts.
2. Sami Gali (Spain, Best) – 2 pts.
3. Charles Deleau (France, North) – 3 pts.

Race 3

1. Sean Farley (Mexico, North) – 0.7 pts.
2. Sami Gali (Spain, Best) – 2 pts.
3. Charles Deleau (France, North) – 3 pts.

Women’s Race 1 to 3:

1. Steph Bridge (UK, North) – 2.1 pts.
2. Angela Peral (Spain, North) – 6 pts.
3. Susi Mai (Germany, Cabrinha) – 9 pts.

2008 PKRA World Tour Kicks-Off in Mexico

The 2008 Professional Kiteboard Riders Association World Tour officially kicks-off with 48 riders from 16 different countries competing.

With winds averaging 15-20 knots, the 2008 season is off to a successful start as forty eight professional kiteboarders registered to compete for the opening games at Playa Del Carmen in Mexico for the Movistar Kiteboard World Cup.

Registration for the event started at 4:00 pm and lasted until 6:00 in the evening. Earlier during the day, the wind blew at a steady pace under sunny, clear skies which allowed some of the competitors to hit the waters for some practice runs. Later in the afternoon, the wind subsided and a high level of cloud layer moved in from inland finally shutting off the wind for the day.

The event site at Playa Del Carmen or “Playa” as it is locally known, is one of the fastest growing towns in the Caribbean side of Mexico. It is right in the heart of Riviera Maya with astonishing white sand beaches and great accommodations.

Mauricio Toscano, PKRA Tour Manager and President said, “Since Playa Del Carmen is a popular tourist location we are expecting thousands of spectators to be on the beach to witness the action.”

Event organizer Erika Sastré of Photopro Media Productions commented, “We feel very excited and honored that the PKRA allowed us to bring this event here and hopefully Mexico will become part of the world tour in the upcoming years as well. This is a place that is awesome for the riders because of the great beaches and wind condition which is ideal for kiteboarding.”

“The people in Mexico are very hospitable and everybody is excited to have the PKRA event here. Kiteboarding is a very young sport particularly in this region and the local government realized that it is a great sport which promotes tourism and camaraderie, so we want to bring it to a whole new level.”

A whole new level means bringing in fresh new talents to challenge the pros. Among the new faces who will be seeing action in Mexico include 19-year old Jadie De Lille Wright and 29-year old male rider Paco Chan. Both riders hail from Cozumel, Mexico. Jadie started kiting in 2002 and is currently in her second year of University studying Environmental Science. She started out at windsurfing but changed over to kiteboarding when her father started kiting.

“I ride with Slingshot and Jimmy Lewis boards and my favorite kiting spot is “Wave Ranch” in Cozumel but Donald Trump has closed down the spot to build more hotels,” said Jadie. Asked about a place she would like to kite if given the chance, and this young Mexican female rider quickly answered, “Indonesia.”

Paco Chan on the other hand, is considered the newbie among the two and was only hooked into the sport more than three years ago. Riding with a GK kite and Litewave board, this Lenten and Hadlow fan saw Litewave Dave kiting in Cozumel one day and knew he wanted to try the sport. When asked about his kiting aspirations, this Cozumel local said, “To be the best.”

Aspiring to become the best means that these two promising riders will have to face the toughest competitors from among the thirty four men and fourteen women who will be competing in Mexico. These include freestyle world champion Aaron Hadlow (UK, Flexifoil) and thirteen-year old Gisela Pulido (Spain, Slingshot) who won their fourth and first PKRA freestyle world title respectively last year. Tour veterans and freestylers Kevin Langeree (Netherlands, Naish), Lewis Crathern (UK, Slingshot), Bruna Kajiya (Brazil, Best) and course racing veterans Bruno Sroka (France, Takoon), Sami Gali (Spain, Best) and Sean Farley (Mexico, North) will be joining the pack as well.

The Mexico event will feature both freestyle competition and the new and exciting course racing discipline which will run until March 9, 2008. Over US$40,000 prize money is at stake plus additional prizes. Major sponsors include Movistar Telefonica, Red Bull Sports, Riviera Maya Tourism and the Tourism Board of Mexico.

For HD-quality videos and more of the 2008 PKRA, you can visit http://www.extremeelements.tv. If you are an extreme sports enthusiast and you wish to travel or simply looking for a good accommodation , check out http://www.extremeelements.com.