IBA Fronton Exhibition Event

O melhor Evento da história do Bodyboard é já no próximo mês, dada a importância fomos colocar umas questões ao Gregg Taylor que prontamente se disponibilizou em responder.


- First congratulations for the sucessfull event ideia, everybody talks about this event. Is the LiveWebast prepared to receive millions of viewers around the world?
Thank you for your positive words and yes it is an exciting time for Bodyboarding. Red Bull TV will be hosting the live web stream of the event. This stream will be streamed live via satellite and will be the best quality along with the expert commentary of Manny Vargas and a local Spanish speaking commentator. Yes it is geared to handle a very high number of viewers and we hope that this will be the situation.

- 16 Elit Bodyboarders and the Sickest wave in the world. Who came up with this ideia?
Many people had considered the concept of an event at Fronton, though we had to find a format that works. The format of the 16 riders was agreed with consideration to many factors including logistics, production, the wave location and tide conditions. Being an exhibition event it was also decided that a one day format would work best. This format was the basis that Red Bull TV, Maltido Rodriguez and IBA Pty Ltd agreed to host the event. Ultimately the format is driven by the desire to showcase performance bodyboarding at its best and to announce to the world what performance bodyboarding is all about. For this to be achieved we needed the best riders in the world at the best bodyboarding wave in the world.

- This event is invitational for 12 internacional elit Bodyboarders, what was your criteria basis to choose the actual list?
We considered the following elements in the make up of the 16 riders:

· - 8 past/present world champions + 4 internationals + 4 locals.
· - A spread of riders from the major IBA regions
· - Riders that are proven performers in BIG powerful + technical waves such as Fronton
· - More specifically the 4 internationals (non world champs), the consideration was for 2 of the better young talents in the sport (as due to 8 ex world champs the average age was a little high – sorry guys). The 2 riders selected are 21 years of age and proven in big surf and are the highest ranked in 2010 (PLC + Jared). As for the other 2 internationals, basically we went for the highest profile and proven big/technical wave riders in the world not to win world title (Winny + Hardy).
· - As for the 4 locals, the bias is towards Fronton locals (not exclusively) as it is their wave and they agreed to share it with the bodyboard world on these terms.

So there it is. There was no perfect formula and it was a combination of considerations that went into the decision.

- Some of the best Bodyboarders of the world have to stay out of the list. Would you agree that the former World Champion Paulo Barcellos is one of them?
Yes it was very difficult to decide the list and I do not think that a perfect solution was possible, that everyone would agree on. We received many many emails from around the world with suggestions for certain riders that were very valid though the interesting point was that almost every suggested rider was different. It is clear that there are many riders who could justify a position in the Fronton event, Paulo Barcellos is definitely one as are riders such as Mitch Rawlins and number of Portuguese riders come to mind as well.
While hard decisions had to made for the Exhibition Event in 2010, it is exciting to know that the Fronton event is scheduled to feature on the IBA World Tour next year with a formal qualification process. Every rider will have the opportunity to qualify in 2011 and in future years.

- It seems that Jeff Hubbard injured himself a few weeks ago. Have you've heard from him? Is he fit do face the beast?
Yes Jeff has injured himself though he is determined to be fit for the Fronton event. If he is unable to compete a replacement will be announced to take his place in the competition. The IBA Rider’s Board is considering the list of possible replacements. For the sake of the competition we all hope that Jeff is fit as he will be amazing to watch flying out of the Fronton sections.

- The 2010 season will end with El Fronton, the 2011 season is already planned and it seems that will rock the world. Is this Event the start of a new era in Professional Bodyboarding?
One of my objectives was to have a defining moment that signalled the change of Professional Bodyboarding and the Fronton Exhibition event is exactly that. A new format for the 2011 IBA World Tour will be officially launched in December after the Confital contest and we believe it will be the start of a new era in Professional Bodyboarding. Stay tuned for more information to be released on 8th December 2010, though here is a brief overview:

2011 will see significant change to the IBA Professional World Tour on every level. The World tour will be split into the Grand Slam Series (GSS) and the Global Qualifying Series (GQS). The GSS will feature the top 24 ranked professional riders in the world, who will be joined by 2 wildcards and 6 riders from a GQS event to form a field of 32 competitors for each Grand Slam event. The GQS will be open entry and will follow the GSS to most locations along with having its own set of locations. The number of GQS events will be greater though ultimately the top 8 riders from the GQS will qualify for the following years GSS.
The GSS will feature 8 events at the premium wave locations around the world and will feature an exciting new format. The new format will see the field of 32 compete in 3 rounds of competition prior to the first stage of elimination. The waiting period and number of contestable days has been increased. The result being, the best riders in the world competing in the most technical waves in the world.
A professional full scale media production team has been appointed to follow the IBA World Tour to catch all the action. This will see a high quality live webcast produced with each event, along with daily event highlights. An eight (8) part documentary will also be produced featuring each of the events, their locations and the athletes.
We are also fortunate to have contracted the services of Steve Robertson from the ASP as the Media Manager, to ensure this quality content is made available to the media worldwide.
There will also be a renewed focus for the Women’s World Tour and the Drop Knee World tour, which both play a key role in the sport of Bodyboarding

Cheers
Gregg

Thank you Gregg!