Playa San Pedro, Lurín: a world-class bodyboarding beach break located in Peru | Photo: Goyo Barragan

The 2020 Association of Professional Bodyboarders (APB) World Tour season kicks off with the Lurín Pro, in Peru.

The 1-Star event will take place at Playa Arica and has $10,000 in prize money to share among the top 16 riders.

Interestingly, the contest venue is named Arica in memory of the Chilean world-class surf break - Arica - which was once part of Peru and lost in the War of the Pacific (1879-1884).

"We worked hard with sponsors and the local authorities of Lurín to run this event," organizer Jose Luis Salazar tells SurferToday.com.

"It's the first of a series of contests that we plan to keep up every year in the district, due to its special affinity with the sport of bodyboarding."

Peru has hosted world tour events since 2004.

The first one - Islas de San Pedro Pro - was held in Lurín. It was the starting seed of all the events that we have now in South America, except Brazil.

When Ecuador and Chile followed the Peruvian footsteps with their own competitions, a South American Leg of the world tour was born.

A Seed Called Peruvian Inka Challenge

The first-ever Peruvian Inka Challenge took place in 2009.

The event was a spectacular display of professional bodyboarding with Jorge Hurtado getting the second place and Jeff Hubbard taking the event win.

The 2010 Peruvian Inka Challenge also showcased Pierre-Louis Costes' historical backflip, a move that no one will ever forget.

César Bauer won the drop-knee division and ended up taking the DK world title, too.

Since 2013, the Peruvian bodyboarding community has struggled to find resources to run a world tour event until Floril and Municipalidad de Lurín came on board last year as event sponsors and supporters.

The promoters of the contest are working towards professionalizing bodyboarding in Peru by hosting an APB event where the top South American riders can compete against the world's best.

Lurín Pro organizer, Jose Luis Salazar, is excited to welcome APB World Tour riders in their return to Peruvian waters, and guide them through the land of the Hurin Ichsma and Lurín's ancestors.

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