It just goes to show that if you give the public something different from the usual, at a sensible time of day suitable for young and old, and make it free entry, then they will come.
Red Bull's 'flying' competition in Ibiza Marina yesterday did just this and attracted a massive crowd of 23,000 people (see photo by Oscar Carrascosa via Red Bull) which probably would have been more had the roads and car parks of the city not been so completely jammed with traffic trying to get there.
The magnificent competitors in their flying machines were given points by a panel of judges, based not only on the length of the flight, but also presentation and choreography. The Ibicenco team Disco Tractor, the youngest in the comp with all members under 20, were triumphant with 30 points in total garnered by their amusing performance in which they changed from country folk (tractor) to clubbers (disco) and the longest flight of the day. Not surprising when the design of their aircraft was aided by one of the dads who makes sails for yachts for a living.
The panel of judges consisted of;
Horacio Llorens, aerobatic paragliding world champ
Adam Raga, trial bike world champ
Julius Brink, Olympic gold 2012 beach volleyball
Fonsi Nieto, motorcycling world champ
Pocholo Martínez-Bordiú, famous for being famous on reality TV
And the crowd were visibly incensed by some of the scoring decisions of Pocholo though it all turned out happily in the end with a local team winning.
