Kiteboard 4 Cancer was founded in 2007 by Garret Zallen, pediatric surgeon and Tonia Farman, whose brother passed away from leukemia. The two set out to convert their feelings of helplessness into good using a sport they loved: kiteboarding!
The result was Kiteboarding 4 Cancer. What started as a fundraiser for cancer charities evolved into Project Koru, a nonprofit that supports young adult cancer survivors through community and the outdoors.
What makes KB4C special is the community. Everyone is there to support the cause and KB4C continues to turn feelings of helplessness into good, through the sport we all love.
KEY PLAYERS
Grom Gromley: Came all the way from La Ventana to emcee and compete and is the running champion of KB4C. Fred Hope: A Hood River local who just won Kiteboarder of the Year from AWSI. Fred came on his college break. Ewan Jaspan: The kiteboarding legend from Melbourne, Australia. Sensi Graves: Hood River’s very own force to be reckoned with. Cynbad (Cynthia) Brown: From the East Cape of Baja, California Sur she spends the summers in Hood River. With KB4C going global, the competition and stoke continues to grow. We had competitors come from all across North America!
MAGIC MOMENTS
Our top fundraising team, Team Laura, is composed of Kirk Zack and his family. They first got involved with KB4C in 2019 as fundraisers, in loving memory of Kirk’s sister, Laura, who lost her fight to ovarian cancer in May 2019. But last year, Kirk’s other sister Katharine was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). She is still undergoing treatments, but was strong enough to come to KB4C to cheer everyone on. The whole Zack family came out to participate, hang out and support each other and even had Team Laura banners hanging from their van. It was such a special moment.
PRESSURE
By Tuesday before the event, news was already circulating: no wind on Saturday. Friday morning, we made the call to move the race to Sunday and crossed our fingers that the wind would show up.
We moved all the fun and games to Saturday, which was a total blast. And then Sunday rolled around. The morning started, no wind. We all held our breath and at 12 p.m., we got news that the wind had changed directions and was on its way! Everyone started gearing up, and by 2 p.m., had hit the water to kiteboard (or foil, or wing) 4 cancer.
PARTY
Our original party plans fell through, two weeks before the event, due to a staffing shortage at the venue. So instead, the KB4C after party was held at the event site. Since there was no wind Saturday, it turned into an all day, all night party on the beautiful Columbia Gorge River.
Live music by the Cliffhangers lit up the evening and got everyone dancing, and Full Sail beer was served all night long. Everyone danced the night away until 10 p.m. We’re so grateful for everyone showing up and bringing the stoke, wind or no wind.
RESULTS WRAP UP
Cynthia Brown: Cynthia was the only person who competed in both remote and in-person races, winning women’s wingfoiling in person and in the virtual competition.
Grom Gromley: Grom took first in men’s kiteboarding and has consecutively won KB4C so many times the trophy has a spot on his mantle,
Charley Alonso: Our youngest competitor (7-years-old) from Spain, took second place in the virtual competition.
This year we introduced foils and wingers to the competition and changed the course to an open zone. We used Strava to track mileage. Everyone was stoked! We look forward to running KB4C in the future.
KB4C 2021 RESULTS
MEN’S KITEBOARD:
1st Place: Grom Gromley; 39.65 miles
2nd Place: Sam Medysky; 38.13 miles
3rd Place: Chris Myles; 34.51 miles
WOMEN’S KITEBOARD:
1st Place: Sensi Graves; 36.43 miles
2nd Place: Izzy Lira; 31.52 miles
3rd Place: Tonia Farman; 30.37 miles
KITEBOARD TEAM (based on average miles):
1st Place: Duotone Kite; 31.87 miles
2nd Place: Reedin Kite Sirens; 29.49 miles
3rd Place: Team Amigos 2; 27.94 miles
MEN’S KITEFOIL:
1st Place: Fred Hope; 52.15 miles
2nd Place: Brandon Scheid; 47.85 miles
3rd Place: Robert Redman; 37.38 miles
WOMEN’S KITEFOIL:
1st Place: Phoebe Retzlaff; 11.31 miles
KITEFOIL TEAM (based on average miles):
1st Place: Naish Sky Pirates; 38.64 miles
2nd Place: North Kiteboarding; 30.52 miles
3rd Place: Team Bigfoot; 28.86 miles
MEN’S WINGFOIL:
1st Place: Nick Stuart, 31.26 miles
2nd Place: Lucas Arsenault; 30.59 miles
3rd Place: Jack Rieder; 22.9 miles
WOMEN’S WINGFOIL:
1st Place: Cynthia Brown; 29.12 miles
2nd Place: Talia Toland; 16.73 miles
WINGFOIL TEAM (based on average miles):
1st Place: Team Ozone Winger Dingers; 29.09 miles
2nd Place: Freedom Foil Boards; 26.84 miles
3rd Place: Pure Stoke-Wing OG; 26.06 miles
GROM:
1st Place: Tim Walsh; 38.14 miles
2nd Place: Nicholas Schollard; 28.61 miles
3rd Place: Alessandro Barbieri; 11.48 miles
6 HOUR VIRTUAL RACE:
1st Place: Cynthia Brown, Wingfoiling; 85.75 miles
2nd Place: Charley Alonso, Kiteboarding; 48.13 miles
3rd Place: Dan T; Wingfoiling; 39.26 miles
