Round 2 Report Southend Seafront
After much excitement and anticipation lead on from the previous, Round One of BKC whilst also knowing Round Two was to take place on my home turf in Essex, I simply couldn’t turn down the opportunity to get over there to see what was going down!
Having been training for this event over the last few months (not to mention for my first time competing during BKC Round One Lancing), I found it unfortunate I couldn’t get involved in Round Two due to a shoulder injury, especially when the wind was looking to be a straight 25 Knots.
Round 2 was originally meant to take place at Shoeburryness, possibly one of the best and most unique kite spots in the UK as well as where I learnt to kite. Seems fitting right? Unfortunately a few weeks before the event was to take place, due to the close proximity of the MOD base, the application to hold the event at that location was rejected, which quite frankly is rubbish. However the show must go on!
After much consideration and very little choice of locations, the event was moved a little further down the coast closer to Southend pier which is well known for its awesome food, ice cream and bars but not necessarily kitesurfing events… With little time to relocate an event to a location that is certainly not ideal for a kitesurfing competitions, my admiration goes out to the organisers of the event as they really pulled something together that was looking to be rather problematic.
Being so close to Southend town there where hundreds of spectators watching the action unfold on the water which really gave the event a boost in understanding in why we do this, not only for the brands and organisers running it but for the sport itself. The whole idea of the event is to put the best riders we have in the country on the water to perform, compete and inspire to be or be apart of the best. Like a modern day Coliseum (on water of course) people would watch from the pier and all long the shore as riders went head to head battling not only against each other, but against the shallow tides not to mention the rising and falling wind conditions that eventually brought the black flags up and the first day of the competition to a halt.
Although the wind was looking beautiful the next day with a legit southwesterly conclusion, the sun was not! However the lack of sun with the rain making it’s debut still didn’t prevent Round Two of the Championships from taking place as the organisers, volunteers and judges toughed it out till the end.
With a late close to the day, the results where in and it was time for the champions to take their pedestals;
Juniors:
1st Place: Harry Way
2nd: Cameron Auld
3rd: Toby Cooke
4th: Tom Seager
Amateur Women:
1st Place: Lucie Turner
2nd: Rebecca Reader
3rd: Sarah Barkway
Amateur Men:
1st Place: Dan Turner
2nd: David Freeman
3rd: Nathan Cullingford
Masters:
1st Place: Pete Jones
2nd: Kevin Matthey
3rd: Cedric Bontemps
Pro Women:
1st Place: Danielle Durrant
2nd: Rosanna Jury
3rd: Holly Kennedy
Pro Men:
1st Place: Sean Murphy
2nd: Tom Bridge
3rd: Gearge Dufty
