2018 IFWA Freeride World Championship Tour Dates:
Nazare, Portugal / April 27-29th
Bisscarosse, France / May 4-7th
Ixtapa, Mexico / June 15th - 17th
Pacific City, Oregon USA / September 7-9th
Chiba, Japan / November 2-4th (World Championship)
The IFWA tour is back with a fresh restructure for 2018 to fortify the foundation of the association and improve the tour. This was made possible with the collaboration of willing and able people, who are all dedicated to the sport, and the amazing competitive freeriders of the IFWA World Tour. Together, they are able to produce one of the most incredible shows in the surf and deliver it around the world. That being said, the IFWA board has moved forward with many improvements, and incentives for this year’s IFWA Freeride World Championship Tour including:
New staff structure
Improved competition format
New event locations
Record breaking world tour prize purse & world tour points incentive
2018 IFWA Restructure – Introduced by Current 3x World Champion Mark Gomez
The IFWA Board has voted and is proud to announce that CarolAnne Giustina, organizer of USA’s round, the Blowsion Surf Slam, has accepted the position of IFWA World Tour Director. This brings a positive change to the IFWA’s structure and will deliver a more cohesive and professional product to the International Freeride Watercraft Association and the IFWA Freeride World Championship Tour. This camaraderie with both the organizers and the athletes is what makes the IFWA Freeride World Tour special and successful.
The IFWA Board consists of organizers of each of the countries on the tour. These Board members have contributed a great deal of time, effort and capital to create their own country’s event and have a voice in the future of the organization. Each country gets one vote in the process and a majority decision must be reached to make changes and improvements. Working together, they not only improve their own events but also strengthen the bond and create a community that can bring the sport of Freeride to the World.
CarolAnne has been involved with the sport of Freeride Watercraft since it’s inception. As Event Manager for the very first Red Bull Wave Bash in 1999, she has seen the sport grow and the level of skill rise with the years. She served as secretary in the FWA (Freeride Watercraft Association) and along with founder, Jimbeau Andrews, helped create the format and rules for the first Freeride events. In 2002, she began to work as Head Judge for the Jet Waves World Championships in Brazil and was integral in the original creation of the International Freeride Watercraft (IFWA) in 2005. She has worked and traveled on the tour since then and has both a passion for the sport and the respect of the riders and fellow organizers.
As IFWA World Tour Director, she will be responsible for coordination of all stops of the tour and management of the event’s competitions and the jury. Her enthusiasm, drive and reputation for hard work, will help deliver an amazing and fair competition and bring the IFWA Tour to a new level.
As well as being a part of the inception of freeride watercraft, she has also been a key player in the history of the creation of the sport of freestyle motocross and also the rapid development of professional snowboarding. She was both the sport organizer for NBC’s Gravity Games Freestyle Motocross and also Gravity Games Boardercross and Skiercross. She continues to work as a technical supervisor for the USASA’s National Snowboard and Freeski Championships. In her other professional endeavors, she is a corporate meeting planner for large scale business meetings and congresses, traveling the world and organizing groups for Fortune 500 companies. Her attention to detail and experience will enable her to be a successful IFWA World Tour Director and bring stability to the organization.
As the current 3x IFWA World Champion and having personally worked with CarolAnne in previous year's events/ tours, I proudly endorse her voted position. Her actions and experience back up the qualification ensuring our association moves forward, with everyone being held accountable to the new agenda. This will fortify the integrity of the IFWA and the success of this great sport. Now CarolAnne will introduce the new IFWA competition format.
New IFWA competition format
A new points structure has been developed for this year’s IFWA world tour that will eliminate numerous ties and make for a better chase to the championship. This year, all riders will compete in the pre-qualifying rounds on Friday at tour stops. These pre-qualifying results will not only seed riders into the IFWA brackets, but will also help determine final rankings for those not advancing to the ¼ finals round. The overall top 4 IFWA tour riders will compete in the pre qualifying round, but will still be automatically placed in the priority of the brackets. Riders winning the ¼ finals round will advance to the championship round to determine 1st-4th place. Losers from the ¼ finals will move to the consolation rounds to determine 5th-8th . All eliminated riders will be ranked by their prequalifying placement in the round in which they were eliminated. At the conclusion of each tour stop, riders will be ranked 1-20 with overall tour points accrued for each position. More details will come soon...
Welcome Ixtapa, Mexico!
After completion of a spectacular invitational event in November 2017, Ixtapa, Mexico has been added as stop number 3 on the 2018 championship tour. Organized by Mexican freerider Abraham Hochstrasser, this event's warm location and beautiful beaches are a welcomed addition to the tour. The inaugural event was well received by both athletes and the public. The freeride spirit was alive and well on both the beach and in the water. Rider’s put on a great show for the crowd and exhibited huge tricks and amazing surfing, while making great memories and having some laughs along the way.
World championship Japan new location & $20,000 prize purse!
Japan will once again host the final event of this year’s tour but at a new location at Sunset Beach Jetski club in Chiba, Japan. This is the mecca of freeriding in Japan being the home riding location to all Japan riders, including Japanese freeride ambassador Takaaki Murao. Known for being great hosts and putting on a good show, the Japanese organizers have also announced that they will be providing the largest purse in freeride history for both the Japanese tour stop and the overall world tour champions! $10,000 USD awarded to 1st place for the Japanese event and $10,000 USD for the 2018 IFWA World Champion. The top 5 pilots in overall tour points at the conclusion of the 4th round (Blowsion SurfSlam,) will have their flight, hotel accommodation, and personal competition watercraft freight shipping to and from japan paid for by the Japanese promoter. This will make this year’s chase for the title both interesting and challenging!
Official breakdown of Japan event prize purse & incentive:
IFWA World Tour Overall: 1st - $10,000 / 2nd - $5,000 / 3rd - $1,500
Japan Event Result: -------1st - $10,000 / 2nd - $5,000 / 3rd - $1,500
Top 5 Eligible riders skis must be crated and ready for pick up from either Blowsion (Oregon) and or TC Freeride (Central California) no later than the 2nd weekend after the Blowsion SurfSlam event. These details will be presented at the conclusion of round 2 in France.
Please bare with us as we are still hard at work to bring updates and information to light as we gather new information and fine tune the details to make it easier to understand and more accessible for our competition members and supporters.
Check out our website and social media channels frequently for updates:
www.IFWAworldtour.com
www.facebook.com/ifwafreeride
www.instagram.com/ifwafreeride
Thank you for your patience and support, we look forward to a great year on the 2018 IFWA Freeride World Championship Tour!
-CarolAnne Giustina
IFWA World Tour Director