In a difficult year, disrupted by the health care crisis, sporting events are one of the categories that has suffered the most. Restrictive rules and continuous bans have discouraged most of the organizers from giving life to their events.
One of the few competitions to have been confirmed in the kite industry, and which has been successfully held, is LORDS OF TRAM.
What is Lords of Tram?
Lords of Tram is a pro-invitational Big Air kitesurfing competition, organized by Tristan Hattu. This means that riders are chosen by the event based on their qualities, their performance during the year, and their future potential.
Launched last year, it has already been a great success and has established itself as the only true Big Air competition in France, aiming to affirm the level of young French talents and attract the world’s best athletes to compete in the challenging conditions of Gruissan’s Tramontane.
The competition is launched when there is a minimum of 25-30 knots and the goal is to perform a given number of maneuvers (6 or 7) on which the riders will be judged with a score ranging from 0 to 10. Only the best 3 or 4 will be retained and added together will give the final score that will decide the winner. In this way we, as judges, have the possibility to focus on the single trick of the single rider.
The judging takes into account both technique and risk-taking, contrary to the KING OF THE AIR (KOTA) format which gives 70% of the importance to the height of the jump.
LORDS OF TRAM has therefore decided not to adhere to the KOTA format, in order to have a better judgment method and because it is necessary to adapt to the conditions of the South of France. The North wind, in fact, unlike the wind in South Africa, is gustier and influences the height of the jumps too much.
Choosing a format and satisfying all the riders is not easy, especially in a competition like LORDS OF TRAM, which brings together some of the best international riders and where the stakes are high.
But I’m happy to say that the format has been appreciated.
