- Ekstremsportveko
Ekstremsportveko (Extreme Sports Week), or "Veko" as it is commonly called by the locals, is a festival held annually in
Voss ,Norway . Established in 1998 by Einar Raa Nilsen, Frode Solbakk, Oeivind Nilsen and Even Rokne, [http://www.dagbladet.no/tekstarkiv/artikkel.php?id=5001070063561&tag=item&words=einar%3Braa%3Bnilsen dagbladet.no] "Dagbladet nettugave" (22. June 2007) (Norwegian) (retrieved on March 26, 2008)] has grown to become one of the world's largestextreme sports festivals. [http://www.bt.no/sport/ekstremsport/article374186.ece "Bilder frå Ekstremsportveko"] – "Bergens Tidende" (24. jun. 2007) no icon (Retrieved on January 7, 2008)] Ragnhild Dårflot Olsen: [http://skald.no/data/filer/Ekstremt%20naturleg%20smakebit.pdf "The biggest extreme sport event in the world"] (Retrieved on January 7, 2008)]Disciplines
The week contains national and international competitions in disciplines as
BASE jumping ,parachuting ,paragliding ,hanggliding ,kitesurfing ,climbing ,longboarding ,mountainbike ,BMX ,rafting ,whitewater kayaking , "big air" andMultisport .History
In 2007 more than 1000 competitors and more than 40,000 spectators attended the event. The festival was covered by more than 250 reporters from both the Norwegian media as well as the international media. "Veko" does not employ many people as they base the organizing and execution of the event mostly on volunteers. In 2007 more than 600 volunteers assisted in getting the festival running smoothly.dagbladet.no]
In 2007 "Veko" received two rewards. One reward was "Best sponsor object of the year" [ [http://www.sponsorforeningen.no/article.asp?uid=135 sponsorforenngen.no] (Norwegian) (retrieved on March 26, 2008)] . The Norwegian Sponsor and Event association gave the prize to Ekstremsportveko stating; “Ekstremsportveko has moved away from a focus on commercialism to pure focus on their own identity where the sponsors have a more intimate presence than what was the case earlier when the activity was mentioned by the name of the sponsor”. The second was "The tourism prize of the year". [ [http://www.innovasjonnorge.no/Satsinger/Reiseliv/Nyheter/Nyhetsarkiv/Ekstremsportveko-vant-Reiselivsprisen/ inovasjonnorge.no] (Norwegian) (Retrieved on March 26, 2008)] Innovation Norway states “With this prize we wish to focus on the overall experience in the tourism industry. Ekstremsportveko is definitely a worthy winner, says the director of tourism, Per-Arne Tuftin from Innovation Norway.Development
As "Veko" has grown and become more and more popular, the organizers of the festival have also created a smaller winter version of the festival called Vinterveko (Winter week). This is an event that only lasts from Friday-Sunday and was first set up in 2007. The 2008 event is scheduled to take place 28-30 March. Karianne Finne, the chief organizer of the 2007 version of Vinterveko, says that Vinterveko shall remain a smaller winter version of "Veko" and they have no plans of making it into a full week festival. [ [http://www.bt.no/sport/ekstremsport/article351027.ece bt.no] ("Bergens Tidene") (Norwegian) (retrieved on March 26, 2008)]
Culture
As well as being an extreme sport festival, "Veko" is also a music festival. In 2007 the festival included the national and international artists
Beenie Man , Definition of Ill Sound System Show, ”Delfinen”, DJ Barabass, Hjalmar, Horace Andy & Dub Asante Band,Me First & The Gimme Gimmes ,Mira Craig , Nico D with Admiral P and Daniel Lion of Manifest Sound,No Means No , Raggabalder Riddim Rebels,Sly & Robbie withBitty McLean , Svenska Akademien, Theodor Babeuf and Valentourettes. [ [http://www.friflyt.no/index.php?pagenr=12&articlenr=53674 friflyt.no] (Norwegian) (retrieved on March 26, 2008)]See also
Extreme sport References
External links
* [http://www.ekstremsportveko.com/ Ekstremsportveko]
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