Celebrate the Winners: WOO and Global Boost Off Challenge (Giveaway Aug 2017)
Women’s Kiteboarding Collective partnered up with WOO Sports to challenge female riders worldwide to a summer boost off! With two leaderboards, one for the highest jump and another for the most accumulated height time, there was an opportunity for all skill levels to join.
Who Got In The Game
We are stoked to report more than 60 women participated in June and July on the WOO, with many more now setting new goals for jumping. Watching the photos posted in the FB group over the summer gave even those who aren’t big jumpers the push to go bigger. Our own board member and ageless advocate for women Dr. Joyce Stalker said, “The WOO competition encouraged me to jump here in Aitutaki, and getting braver and braver I got good height and a hell of a crash….it was pretty cool!”
As our competition drew to a close it was a close battle for highest jump between Karen Hou and Bibiana Magaji.
Karen Hou took the crown for highest jump at 14.4 meters, only 1.9 meters more than Bibiana.
The two women are incredible kiters and kind souls.
Wisdom From The Winner
Karen told us, “Jumping high is like flying.” She remembers the first time she saw kites from above, and it was a total perspective shift! Her best advice is to, “find a nice kicker and go for it.
Only practice makes perfect and the WOO is a fun device to push yourself and to get to know new people and new spots.
Bibiana was gracious enough to do a special Facebook Live Teaching Session for our group on jumping higher and shared an important key to success, “stay strong off the water so you can be more powerful on it, trust yourself, and ride motivated which will inspire other kiters to give you their jumping and tricks advice.”
And The Award For Most Jumps Goes To….
Sina Della Valentina took the win for highest accumulated jumps over the two month event. She accumulated 6684.5 meters of jumped airtime!
Sina says she loves jumping because of the “moment of flying when everything is quiet.” She shares, “It’s important to encourage others to keep trying again and again. Sometimes it’s hard to reach progress in kiteboarding, so you need somebody who is pushing you to the next level.”
As for her experience using the WOO Sina said, “My jumps are getting higher, step by step, because after every session I can check which technique works best. Additionally I’m proud, when I make it on the daily leaderboard, that pushes me for the next session on the water.”
We are So Stoked! Thanks WOO!
Laurel Eastman, Board co-chair of the Women’s Kiteboarding Collective said, “Seeing ladies from around the world push their self-imposed boundaries, address their fears of jumping, and just go for it – even though it was maybe scary – was powerful to witness. I tip my hat to every woman who got in the game!”
A big thank you to WOO Sports for teaming up with us and supporting our mission. With their help we were able to create the first ever Global Women’s Boost Off Challenge and launch the first industry partnership to benefit our nonprofit organization.
Watch out 2018, because The Women’s Kiteboarding Collective is in the game and ready to boost higher!
