Once a quiet fishing town in Oregon, Hood River has transformed over the last decade into North America’s premier windsports destination. This year, history was made as the Qatar Airways GKA Kite World Tour teamed up with the Kite Park League to host the inaugural Qatar Airways GKA Kite Park League World Championships right here in Hood River. Witness the crowning of the first-ever World Champions in this thrilling mini-documentary. Don’t miss out—watch now to discover the story behind this epic event!
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KPL NEWS
On the last day of the Qatar Airways GKA Kite Park League World Championship, the Columbia River Gorge threw everything it had at our top 7 riders for the start of the Final. 30+ mph gusts cranked down the corridor, a stark contrast to the dreamy conditions in the previous round, but there was no more time to postpone. Despite the challenging conditions, the riders put on what will go down as one of the greatest finals to date!
In the Women's Final it was defending KPL Champion Katie Potter dominating from the start, taking the top score on every feature! Her best score's came from her toeside front flip and Backside Lip slide 270. Lauren Holman followed in 2nd landing a Heelside Backside Boardslide on the corrugated and a Heelside Frontside 180 off the kicker. Completing the women's podium was Kristin Cooper who also landed a Heelside Backside Boardslide as well as a Toeside Stalefish Grab.
As the Men's Final took to the water the wind only seemed to be increasing. In a tragic turn of events, 2023 KPL Vice World Champion Noe Font suffered a separated rib while warming up on the Duotone Step Down. Being the warrior he is, he tried to charge on, stomping an amazing hit on the Duotone Step Down, but as the kite regained tension the pain was just too much and he was forced to withdraw from the event. Now with only 6 riders left, Ewan Jaspan took the first lead with the best hit on the giving him a 0.85 lead over Ramiro Gallart in 2nd, with Sam Light in 3rd by another 0.15.
Then on the North XL Kicker, Ewan extended his lead with a toeside backside 720, while Jack Rieder made up some ground nailing the highest scoring trick of the event, a Heelside Frontside 900. Eric Rienstra and Brendan Kerr followed up with similar scores for a KGB and Crowmobe.
Things got interesting on the Box to Corrugated. Ewan struggled to get a clean hit, leaving room for Ramiro to drop the highest score and take the lead by 0.75. Jack had the next best hit, moving him into 3rd Place by 0.6 points ahead of Sam in 4th.
The pressure was on as the podium and the championship were still up for grabs entering the last round on the Naish Kicker. Brendan wasn't able to land his Toeside Backside 540 so Eric was able to take 5th place with a clean G Spot. Jack stomped a Heelside Backside 720 to secure 3rd Place ahead of Sam who's Moby Dick left him 0.3 points short of the podium. Ramiro was hungry to dethrone the defending champion and put down a nice Toeside Backside 720 on his last attempt, but it wouldn't be quite enough as Ewan rode away from a KGB 540 to take the win by a mere 0.05 points!
After 6 days of action, the final day of the event came to an end with everyone celebrating the success of the event with a BBQ at the Marina. The entire KPL would like to thank all the judges and media crew that made this event possible! Especially Noe Font for organising the whole event! With the new partnership with the GKA, the future of the Kite Park League is is here. Congratulations to all the riders for your stellar performances this week!
Stay tuned to @kiteparkleague and @gkawordtour for updates and announcements for next year's tour and as always ride hard and send it!
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