Rondón

Rondón and Alex Soto Top Winners at World Kite Surfing Competition in Brazil

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic – Ariel Corniel, 15, and Alex Soto, 18, won first and second prize respectively in the Free Style category in the World Kite Surfing Competition “KPWT Superkite Brazil 2007,” held last week along the beaches of Cocumbo, Ceará in the northeastern region of Brazil

Manuel Rondón also came home with his first world title in the Hang Time Category. Wave master, Jan Marcos Rivera, came in 5th place, making that his closest attempt at the world title.

In the women´s competition, Susi Mai came in 2nd place in Freestyle and Audrey Meyer won 5th place in the same competition making them both the most successful Dominican women in the South American competition.

Ariel Corniel and Alex Soto, both from Cabarete, made it very clear from the first day that the skills they brought from their home town in Puerto Plata were going to be nothing if not the best. The various stunts and creative moves of their performances duly impressed the judges who immediately gave them high marks and the opportunity to move up to the next level of competition.

It was there that the two Dominican athletes had to face off against each other. Soto did well in the first heat but in the following heat Corniel managed to convince the judges of the superiority of his performance and walked away with his second world title.
Ariel Corniel is the only Dominican champion of the “World Cup President of Kite Surfing” held every year from June 26 to July 1 in Cabarete, Puerto Plata.

Meanwhile, Dominican Susi Mai lost in the final round again German Kristin Boese despite having given her all and having defeated her compatriot Audrey Meyer on Sunday morning. Nevertheless, Susi received a respectable second place in women´s Free Style competition.
For his part, Manuel Rondón took the honors in the Hang Time category with a record 6.30 seconds in the air while performing one of his inimitable exploits. It was here that Jan Marcos Rivera won 5th place among the 49 kiters in the competition.

“This is a small demonstration of what is happening in Cabarete and the level that we´ve achieved in kite surfing in our country,” Alex Soto said.

Young people are calling on SEDEFIR to pay more attention to this sport and to recognize the efforts being made in Cabarete, Puerto Plata to maintain afloat the practice of kite surfing in our country. Without a doubt, kite surfing is attracting a great deal honor and attention on the Dominican Republic without any official support.

For more information and to see photos, please visit this website:
http://www.cabaretewinds.com/news/121/ARTICLE/1500/2007-10-07.html