By Stella Gooch
BMX stunt photo by Barbara Humphries
Click to see some wonderful photos by Kerry Ibrom, Barbara Humphries and Stella Gooch
BMX stunts overhead whilst the Wash Monster goes out by Barbara Humphries
The 6th Lifestyles Festival was blessed with glorious sunshine (with only a brief overcast sky early on Sunday which did not last). The weekend kicked off on Friday with school workshops throughout the day in skateboarding, BMX, inline skating, climbing, street dance, graffiti, power kiting and windsurfing. Windsurfing competitions continued over the weekend, alongside the BKSA kitesurfing competition.
This year’s Lifestyles Festival also incorporated BBC Blast (see separate report). In addition, a sponsored Motorbike Ride was also going on in aid of the Hanover House Garden Project. The bike ride started from C&A Super Bikes and went on to Hanover House finally finishing at Kays Donuts on Hunstanton’s Green.
Saturday and Sunday featured demos from some of the country’s top extreme sports men and women, along with taster sessions in power kiting and windsurfing and street dance. Visitors came to see what it was all about and the atmosphere was lively and dynamic as you would hope at such an event. Hunstanton’s Lifestyles Extreme Sports Festival is now established as the extreme sports event in the eastern region and it is a great day out for all ages. The event is organised by the Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk, Norfolk County Council, Hunstanton Sailing Club, Klas-A and the Lifestyles Association. Event sponsors include KLFM, the West Norfolk Partnership, Mars, Lingo Design and Flexifoil.
BMX competitor awaits his turn
Friday’s focus was Pro Men & Pro Ladies Freestyle Kitesurfing with a bbq in the evening. Saturday saw the Amateur Men, Amateur Ladies, Seniors and Juniors joining in the kiting events and live bands filled the evening entertainment slot in the large marquee. Visitors to the Festival were invited to come and have a go at the Lifestyles skate park using the available street course and mini ramp throughout the weekend except when the park closed to the public for demonstrations and competitions.
Windsurfing joined the line up at Lifestyles Festival 2010 with Quayside Windsurfers, a major retailer in the UK, introducing the biggest windsurfing competition – the UKWA National Slalom Series. The Slalom Series boasts the best and fastest racing in the UK, with pro sailors all the technical talent with the latest windsurfing kit on show. But it was not all about the top end sailors. The UKWA also organised ’Masterblast’ races particularly for non racers to join in and have some fun on the water.
Some major windsurfing race teams (such as JP/Neil Pryde, Thommen/Severne, Fanatic/North, Tushingham/Starboard and many others) took part with pro sailors such as Nik Baker, Jamie Hawkins, Ant Baker, John Hibbard racing and signing autographs.
I wondered what was going on when I saw some energetic leaps and somesaults being shown out in the open. It turned out that Free Running was a new addition to this year’s Lifestyles event – unless I unwittingly missed it in the past which is possible. King’s Lynn Free Runners were there doing demonstrations and running workshops and showing films. They are a small 7 man Norfolk team consisting of Matty Mallett, Stefan Boldero, Stephen Evans, Kane Sharp Jonathan Tembo and Jamie Finney. The team recently began as a 4 man team and trained and progressed. The team soon began to take part in several shows and workshops and even developed their own classes to teach their highly energetic skills to other young people. to find out more about Free Running check out their website: http://www.klfr.co.uk/.
The award winning Alison Street Dancers were great fun to watch and entertained the cheering crowd with around 5 highly energetic street dances. Alison’s Street Dance Club has been running across Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire for over ten years, allowing children and adults of all ages a chance to learn routines to the freshest music.
KLFM Party at Lifestyles 2010
The music line-up for Lifestyles in Hunstanton showcased many local, regional and national acts. On the Friday the main stage featured headline act Red Hot Soul Band, along with performances from Excellent Adventure, King Kool and Ringo Pacino, a fast rising Norfolk indie rock band. On the Saturday, Vanilla Pod headed up the acts including Freyed Not, Captain Black No Stars and Swelltones on the main stage. KLFM’s Party on the Beach, took place on the main stage on Saturday afternoon featuring Birkenhead, Under the Influence, Wildboys, Cutback and Smokin Hogs. I was fortunate enough to look in when Wildboys were playing and I was really sorry to have to move on but my 7 year old son was not up to the volume. If I was not a responsible parent I would have stayed all through the evening but sigh, such is life! A range of other music and comedy acts entertained throughout the weekend.
Event Organiser, Borough Council Sports Development Officer Tony Devenish, said: “We had a really exciting line-up this year and it’s brilliant we were able to give so many local acts a chance to perform. Lifestyles Festival is all about people exploring their hidden talents, whether that’s in extreme sports, dance, street art or music.”
Hunstanton green was filled with the popular VW Beetles owned by visitors from across the country who arrived in the town to show off their cult classics. Each VW owner vied for recognition in the form of awards for the best type1, best type 3/4, best T4/T5, best water cooled and best rat!! A range of trade stalls were also on the promenade near Hunstanton Sailing Club.
Cllr Elizabeth Nockolds, Borough Council Cabinet Member for Sports, Arts and Open Spaces added: “Thanks to generous sponsorship from a range of companies and organisations, this event has gone from strength to strength. This year we were able to extend our free have-a-go workshop sessions to even more schools and we are delighted that over 200 students came along this year to try something new. We hope that this will inspire them to take up a new sport or activity that perhaps they wouldn’t have had the chance to try before. This is a great event for Hunstanton. It attracts hundreds of people into the town and has really helped establish the town as the venue in the east of England for extreme sports. There really is something for everyone, whether they want to take part in workshops and competitions, watch the daring displays, or just sit back, enjoy the music and soak up the festival atmosphere.”
Winners of the events as notified to Hunstanton-On-Line at time of going to press are:
Kite Surfing – Pro Men
1- Oli Sweeney
2- Ned Taylor
3- Lewis Wilby
Kite Surfing –Pro Ladies
1- Hannah Whiteley
2- Nicky Rudd
3- Holly Kennedy
Kite Surfing –Am Men
1- Xan Woods
2- Jordan Smith
3- Simon Light
Kite Surfing –Am Ladies
1- Chloe Durrant
2- Polly Crathorn
3- Danielle Durrant
Kite Surfing –Seniors
1- Richard Jones, Daniel Vaughn, Peter Whiteley, Joe Hockley
Kite Surfing –Youth
1- Sam Bull, Will Makinson, Jack Daykin, Ollie Bridge
Kite Surfing –Juniors
1- Tom Bridge
2- Guy Bridge
3- Callum Asquith
Kite Surfing –King of the Air
Hannah Whiteley with a Railey to Blind both regular and switch
For fuller details check out the Lifestyles website.