Press Room

2009 Pegasus Airlines PWA Windsurfing World Cup Ends with Closing Ceremony

The Pegasus Airlines PWA Windsurfing World Cup, organized by Sportworks, featured 64 male competitors and 14 females from 30 countries. The world's best and fastest slalom windsurfers fought it out for the World Championship between August 10 and 15 in Alacati’s Surf City Myga. In the male category 14 windsurfers raced for Turkey and 6 Turkish female windsurfers participated in their category. The Pegasus Airlines PWA Windsurfing World Cup, organized by Sportworks, featured 64 male competitors and 14 females from 30 countries. The world's best and fastest slalom windsurfers fought it out for the World Championship between August 10 and 15 in Alacati’s Surf City Myga. In the male category 14 windsurfers raced for Turkey and 6 Turkish female windsurfers participated in their category.

The Pegasus Airlines PWA Windsurfing World Cup was comprised of 8 races in the male and female categories. The windsurfers made fantastic shapes on water as they reached even greater speeds with the help from the strong Alacati winds. 
 
Races could not be performed in the last two days of the PWA Windsurfing World Cup because of insufficient wind, so the champions and the winner of the €45,000 prize were determined by the results of 8 races in the males’ and females’ categories.

2008 World and Speed champion, French Antoine Albeau, who maintained his leadership since day one, was also champion of the Alacati lap of the Pegasus Airlines PWA Windsurfing World Cup. English Finian Maynard, who was racing for the British Virgin Islands, took second place and legendary windsurfer Björn Dunkerbeck, racing for Switzerland, took third. Bora Kozanoglu was our best Turkish sportsman, coming nineteenth.  Arkas Sportsman and 2009 Youth World Slalom Windsurf Champion Enes Yilmazer took the twenty-third place in the Cup. Our Olympic Windsurfer Ertugrul İcingir obtained the twenty-eighth ranking within the first thirty.
 
In the female category, French champion Valerie Ghibaudo was winner of the Alacati lap and she also won the 2009 PWA Windsurfing World Championship. Sara-Quita Offringa from Aruba won second prize and Sara Hebert racing on behalf of Armenia won the third prize. Cagla Kubat came sixth in the general classification. Lena Aylin Erdil completed the Alacati lap of the PWA World Cup in tenth position.

Cagla Kubat successfully completed the tour in the female category which ended in Alacati, under the sponsorship of Rozi, and came fifth in the general classification in 2009 PWA Windsurfing World Cup. In addition, our 19-year-old young windsurfer Lena Aylin Erdil finished the season in sixth position.
 
The sixth lap of the Pegasus Airlines PWA Windsurfing World Cup ended with a fantastic closing festival in Alacati. Live music concerts and dance shows before the awards ceremony brought excitement to hundreds of people attending the cup.
 
Sertac Haybat, General Manager of Pegasus Airlines, presented the awards in the female category and Ali Sabanci, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Pegasus Airlines, presented the awards in the male category. In the closing ceremony a plate was also awarded to Nedim Gumus, Deputy Mayor of Alacati, for their contributions to the event. 
 
Alacati Surf'N Sound Sports and Music Festival, launched by Sportworks in 2005 for Alacati, has entertained thousands of people with its sports, entertainment and music in 2009.
Within the scope of the festival, a special race, the ROZI LADIES CUP (FEMALES), was arranged.  Cagla Kubat, Lena Aylin Erdil, Melek Toraman from the Turkey Team; Valerie Ghibaudo, Alice Arutkin and Morane Demont from the France Team; and Karin Jaggi , Sara Hebert, Sara-Quita Offringa in the World Team raced in the specially created track in the two series race for a total prize value of €4000 Euros. The sportswomenraced and enjoyed the contest performed as a three staged relay race. In the first series of the races, performed to the cheers of hundreds of people gathered on the beach, the World team won first prize, the French team won second prize and the Turkish team won third prize; whilst in the second stage, the World team came first, the Turkish team second and the French team third prize. 

In the ETI MAXIMUS Freestyle show, 2009 World Freestyle Champion Sarah-Quita Offringa from Aruba and three Turkish sportsmen presented a special show to the audience with their acrobatic manoeuvres. 
 
The audience enjoyed the thrill of the races alongside the other activities in their week at the Myga Surf City. The ROZI Capoeria Dance Show also brought Brazilian music and dance into the spotlight. 

The bikini dance contest, courtesy of FOSTERS BEER was another activity to bring even more colour to the event. The winners of the competition, made up of from the audience, were presented with mobile phones at the end of the contest.  Each evening the parties continued to entertain the sportspeople and audience alike with music provided by Power FM DJs Hope and Yakuza.
The fun peaked with the Pegasus Airlines Salsa and Percussion show and Zumba Fitness party on the final day.

Transfers for the world champions were all arranged courtesy of BUDGET between Izmir and Alacati. During the festival, Kahve Dunyasi (Coffee World) and Feast provided catering services and Garanti Bank provided mobile banking services to the contestants and audience.
 
Images from the Pegasus Airlines PWA Windsurfing World Cup also featured on the screens of media sponsor Show TV every day, while Power FM announced race-related developments through live links in Turkey.
The second media sponsor BOXER magazine will share all the details with its readers in its forthcoming September issue.