The Rip Curl Newquay Boardmasters, the UK's largest lifestyle sports festival, is back this year from Saturday 27 July through Sunday 4 August at the Fistral Beach, Newquay - the surfing Mecca of the UK.

Born in 1981, the event has evolved from a regional surf contest into a world-class lifestyle festival, where sport, music and youth culture are blended together in a 9-day beach extravaganza.

The now legendary free event is the only UK event to be part of the infamous Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour and is expected to attract over 80,000 people, whilst playing host to a multitude of internationally recognized sporting icons.

More than 200 International surfers will descend on the town to compete across the different disciplines for the $60,000 prize purse. Last year the Boardmasters featured the likes of Adrian Buchan (Australia), Ed Bishof (Brazil), Gabe Davies (UK) and Newquay's very own surf legend Russell Winter, who will be back to fight for 1st place in the 4 Star WQS discipline.

The Right Guard Xtreme Sport VERTSK8 Series, the UK'S biggest vert skate tour, will be returning to the Boardmasters for the second year running, for the first two legs of the 3-stop competition. Rodeos, McTwists and 540s will be the flavour of the day as Europe's top skaters perform jaw dropping tricks and battle it out with entrants from the US, Australia and the Globe team, to become the 2002 series champion.

And if that’s not enough a new twist has been added to this year's series. It has been laid down that whoever pulls off the legendary ‘900’ (a 3 times aerial revolution trick previously only delivered by the vert megastar – Tony Hawk) will walk away with £5000.

This year’s Right Guard Xtreme Sport VertSK8 Series is destined to be a ramp-busting Fight to the Vert. London's Ali Cairns will be amongst the 7 invited riders, together with Jocke Olsson (Sweden) and Sergie Ventura (US) who will also be making an appearance.

When the sun goes down, the temperature won't drop, Newquay's favorite nightspots will hot up each night of the festival period with endless hours of pumping tunes, from some of the funkiest DJs and live acts - once you sampled the 'West Coast breaks', Balearic Beats will be a thing of the past.

Rocktastic pop combo Reef will also be taking centre stage at one of the official festival parties, hosted by the charity Surf Aid at the legendary Walkabout club.

Although surfing remains the focus of the Rip Curl Newquay Boardmasters, the event offers more than just surfing. For those who prefer the armchair approach to sport, Activision O2 offer the perfect solution with their Playstation 2 pods, featuring the first ever UK airing of their latest in their Action Sports range, Kelly Slater Pro Surfer (rel. Sept 2002 ). Riders and spectators will be able to keep up to date with all the latest event gossip - from race results, to who fancies who, to the hottest apres-surf parties, by sending text messages to the giant Nokia Chat Screens set up around the festival site - watch out for the special mobile phone number, at the start of the event, in order to text your messages.

The festival brings together the best of British 'summer fun '- whether you're there to check out the awe-inspiring surfing at the UK's most famous break and or to simply sit back, relax and soak up the atmosphere with your mates, the festival will provide something for everyone.