Atlantic Watersports Games 2012

Double Gold for Brits at the Atlantic Games

It’s been an intense spell of hard work for Surfing GB over the last few weeks, leading up to the British Schools Championships, and then supporting British Surfers representing their regional teams at the Atlantic Games in Brittany.

Building on their success in hosting last year’s Games, Devon were strongly represented , fielding 15 surfers to contest 16 divisions, including Longboard, Shortboard and Bodyboard. Surfing GB had offered support to any region putting teams forward, and both Cornwall and Wales joined the Devon surfers battling for medals on the beach at Plouharnel, near Quiberon.

Setting up in the nearest Campsite to the contest venue, the Surfing GB support team provided shelter and a campaign HQ to the British surfers, within walking distance of the break. That gave an advantage to those who wanted to practice on the break at dawn, and made for great team spirit with communal meals and outings into town on the train.

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The Atlantic games organisers had laid on a spectacular opening ceremony on the town beach at Quiberon, with hundreds of competitors parading along the seafront in bright sunshine. For the travelling Brits it was a tonic after the long weeks of overcast and rain that had blighted June and early July.

Three days of competition in weak summer waves tested the skills of our surfers, who showed their strength both in performance surfing and in adaptability: the Cornish trio of Harry de Roth, paddy Daniel and Jobe Harriss all surfing in multiple disciplines. Welsh Medal hopes rested on the highly rated and experienced longboard duo of Connor Griffiths and Josh Hocking. It was Connor who came through, taking Silver in the u-18 Longboard, missing out on the Gold by the narrowest of margins.

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The big news for the travelling British teams however was a double Gold for our u-18 shortboarders, Peony Knight taking the u-18 Girls and Jobe Harriss the u-18 Boys. Lucy Campbell took silver in the 18 Girls . That was a stunning result for the combined efforts of the British party and laid down a marker for the French, Spanish and Portuguese that the Brits are a growing threat on the European circuit. Other British finalists included Will Bailey in the u-14s, Taz knight in the u-16s, Paddy Daniel in the Longboard and Harry De Roth who took three medals home. Flora Lawton and Harriet Knight took silver and bronze in the Bodyboard.

One of the aims of Surfing GB is to see an improvement in the performance of British surfers at international level, so having two Gold medals and three silvers going to British Surfers at this years games was a massive result.

Devon Team Photos

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Photos ©Nicole Bromham

Final surf team Standing…

Place Pays Total P 4 P 5 P 6 P 7 P 8 P 9 P 10
Aquitaine 4 4 5 1 3 1 0 2 0 0 0
Bretagne 3 3 3 4 1 2 2 0 0 1 0
Devon 1 1 1 1 4 2 0 3 0 0 0
4 Cornouailles 1 1 0 2 2 1 0 2 0 1 0
5 Norte Portugal 1 1 0 2 0 3 0 2 0 1 0
6 Pays De Galles 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 1 0 1 0
7 Basse Normandie 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 1 0
8 Pays De La Loire 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
8 Picardie 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
8 Algerie 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
8 Cantabrie 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
8 Galice 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
8 Euskadi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

For More info on the Atlantic Watersports Games visit www.jniea.org

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