The status of Madeira Drive as the city's major outdoor events arena continues to grow, especially this week when we learn that the White Air Extreme Sports Festival, which has just completed its twelfth year at the Isle of Wight, is to move to Madeira Drive next September (18 - 20th).
The festival is a demonstration by experts of a great many extreme sports (see the list here) but there is also the chance to try out most of these sports for yourself. The festival also includes exhibitions and workshops in such things as DJing and graffiti art. There are gigs, and even the RAF's Red Arrows and Red Falcons (parachutists) display teams.
Over the three days of the festival 60,000 tickets will be available, but thousands more will watch from Marine Parade above Madeira Drive.
Last week the Brighton Triathlon celebrated its second successful event, earlier in the month Yellowave Beach Sports brought international beach volleyball to the Drive, this weekend Fatboy Slim (Norman Cook) has his fourth Big Beach Boutique gig, and each year more London to Brighton motoring runs are added to the calendar to complement already long established events such as the Pioneer Veteran Motorcycle Run in March and the Historical Commercial Vehicle Run in May, and the Brighton Heart Foundation Bike Ride in June.
More permanent attractions along the Drive have also been established in recent years, such as AQUA (Artist Quarter Under the Arches, which is just east of Madeira Colonnade.
What a shame then that the city council's recent policy paper on the future of the Drive offered so little. It needs to catch up fast.
(Photographs show kitesurfing on Lancing beach, seven miles west of Brighton, a very popular beach for kitesurfers)
LINK: Argus report here
