Colour in the Dollymount sky for Dublin Kite Festival

Hundreds of rainbow-coloured kites commanded the skies above Dollymount Strand on Sunday for the third annual Dublin Kite Festival.

There were competitions, running-races and kite-making workshops at the free event for families, as well as demonstrations by master kite-flyers on the day.

The festival was organised by Limelight Communications, with support from Dublin City Council, 98fm and water sport and kite surf centre Pure Magic.

“Today is all about the family and putting some colours in the sky,” Francois Colussi from Pure Magic said.

“In the coming years the plan is to fill the whole beach and to bring even more international flyers and artists to showcase one of the best sports in the world - to fly a kite.”

Expert kite flyer Mike Dinsmore has been involved in the sport for 35 years and has toured and competed in many parts of the world.

“There are so many different aspects of the sport, so you can branch off in a lot of different directions,” he said.

Mr Dinsmore said he believes kite-flying is only beginning to take off in Ireland, and predicts the sport will be “massive” within a couple of years.

Deeply ingrained

“In China, kite flying is deeply ingrained in their culture and it’s something they try to do every day,” he said. “This kind of festival is big in places like North America, but it’s really just starting off here in Ireland.”

The World’s Smallest Kite Company at the festival held workshops to teach children how to make their own kites, and expected to help build around 2,000 of the devices throughout the day.

Robert Campbell-Lloyd from the company said he believes people are drawn to kite-flying as it’s a healthy outdoor past time.

“Get away from the computer, get away from the television, come outside and enjoy nature and the wind is there to provide it for you,” he said.