Biggest night of kiteboarding year to honour the greats of our sport is almost here with Cape Town debut
10 January, 2025 | Qatar Airways GKA Awards, City Hall, Cape Town
Drum roll, please. The biggest night of the kiteboarding year is almost upon us with the Qatar Airways GKA Awards gala evening set to make its debut in the kiteboarding mecca of Cape Town, South Africa, in a few days.
Your votes are in and the GKA special panels are tallying the final count before the big reveal at Cape Town City Hall on 10 January, when the coveted statuettes will be awarded in 14 men’s and women’s categories.
Adding to the excitement, the first GKA Big Air Challenge 2025, in collaboration with WOO Sports, is in full swing in the Western Cape. Brand teams are battling for the highest combined jumps between 2 and 9 January, with an annual trophy to be presented during the awards night.
The prized statuettes will be awarded to the best men and women athletes who will be given the top honour in the Rider of the Year awards. They will be joined by the Photo, Video and Rookie of the Year awards.
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The Move of the Year awards has been expanded to reflect the huge interest that the video clips evoke on social media. It will now cover nine hard-fought categories: for Freestyle, Strapless Freestyle, Wave and Hydrofoil Big Air.
Leading figures from the kiteboarding industry also take the opportunity to gather in Cape Town during the southern hemisphere summer months and will be on hand at the 1,000-seater City Hall venue.
The decision by Cape Town to give over the City Hall for the Qatar Airways GKA Awards night is a measure of the municipality’s ambition to cement its reputation as the world’s premier kiteboarding destination during the European winter months.
With many of the planet’s best kiteboarders basing themselves in Cape Town to train in the cranking Cape Doctor winds that blow from November to March, a big turnout of professional athletes is guaranteed.
