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Let’s go fly a kite
Photos by HÅKON MÆLAND/Red Bull Content Pool
ABOVE: Competitors perform during the Red Bull Ragnarok at Hardangervidda in Haugastol, Norway on April 1, 2016. LEFT: Peter Martel celebrates after winning the Red Bull Ragnarok.
RED DEER’S PETER MARTEL USED THE COMPETITIVE POWER OF TEAMWORK TO EARN THE TITLE OF THE FASTEST SNOWKITER IN THE WORLD BY LANA MICHELIN ADVOCATE STAFF
Barker digs deep for third-place finish Page A2
Red Deer’s Peter Martel is the fastest snowkiter in the world, sailing past 350 competitors in blizzard conditions with a broken steering line at the Red Bull Ragnarok in Norway. Martel, who placed third in last year’s race, used the competitive power of teamwork to propel him to the top of the podium at the 2016 Red Bull event held April 1. The two Alberta snowkiters he trained with blew past most of the competition as well. Marie-Eve Mayrand of Calgary clinched the top spot in the women’s kiteboarding race, while Josh Barker of Gull Lake placed third in the men’s division. Martel congratulated his fellow Al-
bertans, saying “They were the underdogs, while I had already podium-ed … I was hoping, with them being so strong and doing so well (in training), that they would place …” He credited his training with Barker and Mayrand for his own win, saying the three snowkiters motivated each other to get out for at least weekly practices — usually at Sunshine Meadows, near Banff. “We made it a team effort, pushing each other on” to go faster and farther. All their strength was needed for the 100-km Ragnarok course. Martel, Barker and Mayrand were among only 25 competitors to finish the race — RED DEER WEATHER
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Martel with the top time of four hours, 49 min. The event that attracts participants from 30 countries is called “the biggest and toughest” snowkite competition on the globe. It’s held on a gruelling, fivelap course on a mountainous plateau in Hardangervidda — the same location used for the ice planet Hoth in the Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back film. Conditions were initially ideal — sunny and about -2 C — but the wind proved wildly unpredictable. Martel recalled leading a field of competitors on snowboards and skis when he entered a“wind hole” in the
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course. Other kiters noticed his sail going slack and managed to avoid the poor wind conditions. “They could navigate around me … I watched as six or seven competitors passed me by — and that was discouraging,” he admitted. Martel had to hike in knee-deep snow to the top of a hill to catch the wind again, and then used all of his skills and knowledge to catch up to the competition.
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