Red Bull kite surfing race finishes off in style

Red Bull Island Hopping successfully came to a close with the race favourite, Fabio Ingrosso, taking home the first place trophy. The 36 year old Swiss National completed the race in an incredible 40 minutes and 22 seconds and went onto to be crowned champion of Red Bull Island Hopping

Coming in exactly one minute later was fellow countryman Roman Kaiser. The 22 year old kite boarder got runner up honours for his timing of 41 minutes and 22 seconds. Local teen kite surfing hero, Maufeel Khan came in third by a mere 33 seconds. The 17 year old completed the race in 41 minutes and 55 seconds to claim his second runner-up position.

Maufeel also went onto win the Super challenge which was an upward challenge of kiting against the wind. He completed this virtually impossible task in simply 45 minutes and went onto win additional prize money.

Kalpitiya, known to be the best kite surfing locations in the world, played host to the first ever Kite race in the country. Red Bull Island Hopping involved kite surfers hopping from one island to the other off the North Western Puttalam Peninsular. The epic race 25 KM race started at Kapaladi and proceeded to the ‘ultra flat’ Kalpitiya Lagoon. The kiters then proceeded onto Dream Spot where lagoon meets sea.

A Free style exhibition competition will also be held at the lagoon on 8 July. This will test the stunt abilities of the kiters. This is Red Bull’s second stint with Kite surfing in Sri Lanka. Last year Red Bull Kite boarder Susi Mai was down to try her hand at the winds of Kalpitiya. She also conducted an Under-my-Wings program with the local kite surfers.

Kite surfing or kite boarding can be defined as the ultimate adventure surface water sport. It combines wakeboarding, windsurfing, surfing, paragliding, and gymnastics. Kitesurfing harnesses the power of the wind to propel a rider across the water on a small surfboard or a kite board. There is a range of different styles of kite boarding, including freestyle, free ride, down winders, speed, course racing, wake style, jumping and wave-riding which is focused on kite surfing big waves using a directional board similar to a surfboard