KTA Thailand Christmas Race Special starts today in Phuket

KTA Thailand kicks off the 2013/14 KTA Asia Tour. Photo by Alexandru Baranescu.

Following close on the heels of the highly successful and much acclaimed 2013 World Course Race Championships in China, the KTA is back in action with the first event of its Asian Kiteboard Championship season.

The Christmas Race Special takes place from the 17-20 December in Phuket, Thailand and is a new venue for the KTA to open the tour with. The event which follows the racing focus to the start of this year’s winter monsoon season sees a new title sponsor for the competition with Tamarind Villa Phuket making things possible, while longtime KTA supporters Kitezone provide the host venue at Friendship Beach in Chalong Bay.

The KTA Thailand, while being a more chilled regional affair than the recent Worlds, promises to provide some high octane action with both Formula and TT race classes in action. Plus with an event prize value of USD 10,000 at stake from Cabrinha, the Asia Tour’s title brand sponsor, you can expect no one to be giving anything away, Christmas or not!

“‘It’s the perfect start to the KTA 13/14 season” said KTA Director, Neil Godbold. “The Thailand kite scene is a hot-bed of race talent thanks to the local development of the Kitesurf Thailand Association, so we know there will be a good local turnout and we know racers from the Philippines, China and Europe are already on their way to take them on, so it promises to be a fast, hectic event.”

The KTA Thailand also sees the first time the TT class will be racing as a fully recognised ISAF class and as such racers here will become the first world ranked TT riders, so Asia will be leading the way into this exciting new era for kiteboarding and its development and growth towards the 2020 Olympics.

In true KTA style the event also provides training and skills development, this time with top international racer and coach Nils Stolzlecher who ran a pre-event race clinic at Kitezone 12th and 13th December.

Although this KTA Thailand is more of an Open event and slightly shorter than a full tour stop, it is still the KTA and it is Christmas, so you can expect some good off-water social activity to ring in the seasonal cheer. All of which is being brought to the event courtesy of local co-sponsors the Vijitt Resort and the Rawai Nai Harn Group.

For more information, visit www.kiteboardtour.asia.