KTA Withdraws from Kiteboarding Nationals in Townsville
Last years event was great, this one will be too!
Word on the street is that the KTA wanted exorbitant amounts of money just to sanction the event (in excess of $14,000). In addition to the sanctioning fees, they wanted the organisers of the event to fly out 4 judges, give them cars, accommodation and return them home when the event was over, all at the organisers expense. When you take into account the $200 entry fee, the 24 registered riders and a couple of sponsors who didn't front the cash when push came to shove. Finding $17,000 to pay for some sanctioning fee's just wasn't going to happen, let alone all the other costs involved with running an event like this.
AKSA defended it's decision not to bail out the event in an email sent to all members yesterday. Public Officer for AKSA, Gavin Stevenson said in the mail out:
"The AKSA committee is disappointed about this outcome and wishes KTA well in holding future
events hopefully in Australia, but is not able to spend significant amounts of AKSA members’ funds financing an international event that AKSA did not sanction and was not involved in any financial arrangements with.
AKSA will be focussed on providing fair and consistent judging at the event, as we believe this is vital for successful National Championships. We hope that the competitors can understand this issue and wish them and organisers the best for the upcoming National Championships."
It's not known whether any of the KTA competitors will still be attending the event, but with only a couple of days until it starts, we'll be finding out pretty soon!
Good luck to all the competitors and event organisers, have a great event! Check back here over the next week for updates, pics and results from the 2012 Australian Kiteboarding Nationals.
KTA made their official announcement in the Seabreeze Kitesurfing Forums, and have even gone as far as to suggest ... "KTA in the meantime will be seeking legal advice on recovery of its losses".
Do the KTA have a clear understanding of the size of Kiteboarding in Australia? (which is small). It reads that they are threatening to set their lawyers onto Australia's volunteer/non-profit organisation. The author of the KTA post is suggesting they have enough time & money to sue kitesurfing organisations in different countries. Do you hear that sound in the background? .. is it the sound of KTA burning bridges?
Is it the KTA who are upset, or is there a single individual at the KTA who has their nose out of joint, and is speaking on behalf of their organisation? It's common for newly elected members of associations to get power lust, and forget why they were elected in the first place - to make kitesurfing a better sport for all who participate.
No doubt, we've not heard the end of this, and many man hours may be wasted in searching for resolution...
Semaphore, SA
