UK – MASTERS of the wind and waves will be at Hunstanton on the weekend of July 4, 5 and 6 for round three of the British Kite Surfing Association’s national ranking grand prix competition. The competition, part of the town’s high energy extreme sports extravaganza Lifestyles 2008, attracts people from all over the country. As well as kite surfing, some of the UK’s top professional skate boarders and BMXers will be dazzling spectators with their gravity-defying demonstrations. Check out the website lifestylesfestival.co.uk TELECOMMUNICATIONS – T-Mobile USA, Inc., has aligned with Tony Hawk for a multiplatform partnership that includes the creation of a limited edition T-Mobile® Sidekick LX™ device, presenting sponsorship support and programming for Tony Hawk’s Boom Boom HuckJam 2008 North American Tour, and events benefiting the Tony Hawk Foundation. Tony puts his personal design on the Sidekick LX by giving it a true skateboard look. The bottom cover of the device is outfitted to resemble and feel just like the top of a skateboard, including a texture like grip-tape and eight simulated screws. The limited-edition Sidekick also features a slate-grey shell, accented with blue and white designs, and Tony’s well-known hawk graphic. A customized Tony Hawk theme will be included on the device featuring an exclusive video of Tony performing tricks, a Tony-inspired background, and skate-themed swivel screen open and close sounds. Surfing Want to win a custom built surfboard? Get your entries in to win your brand new “Gold Coast Surfboards ” surfboard, custom made for this competition – the surfboard will be delivered to the winner, anywhere in the world. For over 15 years, the Quiksilver King of the Groms has been bringing together the world’s top under-16 surfers in Capbreton, France, for the leading international competition in its age category. The King of the Groms is where the stars of the future are born. Originally known as the Pro Junior (won by Miky Picon in his early days) when it was first created some 17 years ago, the competition changed names and became the Grommets Trophy (won by Jérémy Florès), before changing again in 2006, since when it has been called the King of the Groms.
This year, the competition also has a new format – note these dates:
– European final in Capbreton from July 31st to August 3rd
– World final in Hossegor during the Quiksilver Pro France from September 19th to 28th. After five years of mixed results and a failure to find a competition format that worked and excited, the plug has officially been pulled on surfing for this year’s Summer X Games in Los Angeles. The conflicting schedules of the ASP world tour with the timing of the summer games was one of the major issues that organizers were facing; there was no way they were going to pull any of the top surfer names off the WCT in order to participate in the X Games, so with no big names, the decision is no surfing.