It’s all change for the British Cup with a new format, new processes and new organisers in GB Surfing.
GB Surfing are responsible for the management of elite surfing in Britain, working across the home nation federations to run a high performance programme preparing the UK’s best surfers for competition at ISA World Games and ultimately Olympic games. As part of this remit they have picked up the British Championships and given it a make over reflecting their performance focused remit.
The Contest Format
The Men’s and Women’s open continues, as does the u18 boys and u18 girls junior competition.
In previous year home nation team sizes have been 16 surfers across the four divisions, this is upped to 24 surfers per nation with 6 surfers per division.
The contest will run on a single peak through the weekend under priority rules.
The winner of the men’s open and women’s division will earn an automatic place on the GB Surfing ISA World Surfing Games 2024 squad.
Selection and Entries
Each home nation submits teams of up to 6 entries across all divisions.
- 4x made up of the top four from the Home Nation Championship
- 2x wildcard spots
The wildcard slots are firstly made available to any GB Surfing Progression squad surfers not already qualified via their home nation championships. The progression squad was confirmed earlier in October, and for Surfing England we had 3 surfers in that position, with a total 4 wildcard slots available. Once those offers have been made, a selection panel with representation from Junior and Open team coaches, managers and SE operations team makes the call on the final allocation of wildcard slots based on a wider selection of performance criteria, including WSL QS performance through the year and other major competitions. If you’d like to see our selection or appeals process, you can check out our 2023 British Championships selection policy – 2023 Team England selection policy for the British Championships
With international commitments, family emergencies and multiple injuries it’s been a rollercoaster few weeks for the team, but with such depth of talent in England and the high level of competition for places, the level of talent in this team is through the roof! We’re expecting some epic performances in what are shaping up to be epic conditions.
The Team:
Women’s
1 Lauren Sandland
2 Lucy Campbell
3 Charlotte Mulley
4 Belle Betteridge
5 Ellie Turner
6 Georgie-May Hicks
Men’s
1. Luke Dillon
2. Arran Strong
3. Seth Morris
4. Stan Norman
5. Barnaby Cox
6. Sam Harwood
The Forecast
Surfline is currently forecasting 10-15 ft and fresh 25mph SW winds Saturday morning, with a solid 14 second period. If the winds drop through the day as forecast, those conditions could clean up to deliver some of the best surf we’ve ever seen at a British Champs. Sadly the downside is GB Surfing have made the tough call to postpone the u18s. The GB team felt it wasn’t viable to move the competition site and with a reduced window for contestable conditions are postponing the u18s to ensure they can complete the Mens and Womens divisions.
Our coaches and managers have been in touch with some naturally very disappointed u18s. Any queries from athletes or parents of u18s please speak direct to your team manager. We’ll share any updates on the postponement and alternative dates as soon as we get them.
To everyone who is competing we wish you the very best of luck. We’ll keep our socials up to date with the action and reaction from the crew as the comp unfolds and anyone is more than welcome at the beach to check out the action in person.
