PKRA Cabarete: Saturday, The Finals: Alvaro finishes second and wins Spirit Award

Saturday June 30th 2007

-Stacey Fonas

The Double Eliminations got underway at around 1:30 today, once the wind had picked up enough to be rideable. Starting with the men, three-time World Champion Aaron Hadlow passed through his first heat against Alberto Rondina, then lost to Rui Meira, who'd advanced in his first heat over Madison Van Heurck. It was then Rui (2) v. Mallory De le Villemarque (1), with Mallory going onto beat Dominican Alex Soto, before being stopped by Alvaro "Tiger" Onieva, who gave a solid, consistent performance, despite the fact that he was riding his backup board, having broken his main board during one of his heats on Thursday. So in the finals, it was Alvaro versus the Smog Monster, wait ... I mean Alvaro versus Ariel Colniel.

Unfortunately, within the first minute of the Final, which would determine the winner of the event, Alvaro's footstrap pulled loose, despite spending hours that day trying to make the board rideable. The beach crew struggled to find him a replacement, but on a borrowed board, it soon became clear he didn't have a chance. Ariel was on fire, and on an unfamiliar board, Alvaro was unable to land his usual battery of technical tricks. He gave it all he had and rode with heart, however, displaying and impressive amount of good sportsmanship and class. Once he realized there was nothing he could do to save the heat, he acknowledged his loss to Airel by throwing in some big fun board-offs right in front of the Dominican Peanut Gallery, who roared their appreciation. "What else could I do," said a smiling Alvaro. "Plus, I got some bonus points for tomorrow's Board Off Contest!"

At age 20, this is Alvaro's 6th year on the tour, making him the "oldest" rider, in terms of being on the tour the longest. Since he started at the age of 14, he's steadily worked his way towards the top each year, finishing 16th, then 8th, 7th, 6th, 4th, and this year has his sights on the top 3.

Although Hadlow (pictured above, congratulating Alvaro after the finals) finished 6th today, he can discard these results and is still firmly seated in first place, with 3 first place finishes (Venezuela, Austria and Italy). Alvaro, will discard his Italy finish (13th)*, and is now a close 3rd to Youri Zoon's 2nd, with a 2nd place finish in Venezuela, a 9th place finish in Austria, and a 2nd place finish now, here in Cabarete.

* I finally got the lowdown on what happened in Italy: Alvaro was riding in a 4-man heat ... it was Alvaro v. Mikael Blomvall, and Rui v. Michael Schitzhofer, and Alvaro was RIPPING and would have advanced without a question. Unfortunately, Rui tangled his kite with Schitzhofer, and the entire heat was cancelled due to the tangled kites. Even though the tangle didn't affect Alvaro and Mikael, the judges felt there was no way the two of them could continue the heat with the 2 downed kites in the way. The wind was fluctuating wildly, and by then, the wind dropped, and Alvaro ended up way down wind, and had to run all the way back up, to re-start the heat ... immediately. Exhausted from his run back up the beach, and completely underpowered, he lost the heat, resulting in a disappointing 13th place finish, which dramatically affected his overall results.

For the girls, the first heat of the day was between long-time Cabarete resident Audrey Meyer, and Ania Grzelinska. Audrey advanced, but was then defeated by Poland's Karolina Winkowska. Karolina went on to beat Angela Peral, but was stopped by Gisela Pulido, so in the finals, as predicted, it was Gisela and Bruna, going head to head once again.

(There's a lot of sand in my camera and I can't seem to get a clear picture to save my life)

As Gavin was launching Bruna's 7m kite, the wind cranked on, and in a matter of seconds, Bruna was completely overpowered, but it was too late, at that point, to go for her 5. Gisela won, which resulted in a tie. But in order to win in the finals, the winner of the singles needs to be defeated twice, meaning Bruna and Gisela would have to ride again.

However, right before the two were about to go back on the water, the wind died, brought on by some weird dark clouds over the mountains. The judges cancelled the heat and the contest went into postponement, and was eventually cancelled for the day, when it became clear that the wind was not coming back. So we'll have to wait until tomorrow for a final result for the girls.

Stay tuned for the results ...

Local Brazilian Best rider Carol Freitas rushes to help Bruna find the perfect kite size.

Saturday Night

Despite not having a result for the Women's Division, there was still a prize-giving ceremony for the men, at 9 PM on the beach in front of Pomodoro Restaurant.

Alvaro, Youri Zoon, and Rui Meira

Almost more meaningful than his second place finish, Alvaro was also awarded the Spirit Award, for his good-natured behavior on the water, in the face of bad luck, during his final heat against Ariel.

(I hope Gavin got some better pictures of Alvaro on the podium. This is like one of those "pictures have been blurred to protect the innocent" shots.)

Now he's got these two big heavy trophies to carry home, in addition to all of his kite gear ... I hope the airlines have some sort of a Spirit Award Discount and don't charge him extra.

Final Results for the Men: 1) Ariel Colniel (DR), 2) Alvaro Onieva (Best - Spain), 3) Mallory De la Villemarque (France), 4) Alex Soto (DR)

Special Bonus: Nighttime Fashions of the PKRA