Surfing England 2024 Junior Surf Series stop 1 – Fantastic day in the sun for the Newquay event.
Surfing England officials as well as host Surf club Newquay board riders arrived bright and early at 7.00am at Fistral, in Newquay on Saturday 1st June, for what was going to be a fantastic community day of surfing to launch the Surfing England Junior Surf Series for 2024.
The surf was forecast to be small throughout the day, but all involved felt it would be contestable which turned out to be the case, and with the sun shining brightly and an amazing team of volunteer’s, athletes, and their support crew, a really good day was had by all.
The wind started off quite light from the Northwest at low tide and as the day went on and the tide pushed up, the wind began to increase a bit which was quite helpful as it helped preserve the size of the swell. After registration and the obligatory safety briefing and welcome from series facilitator Phil Williams, the first heat got underway at 08.35 with the under 14 boys, and a 16 strong field.
The junior surf series at every event is growing in popularity and this one continued the great interest on the back of a really successful series in the past two years.
One of the fantastic aspects of these events is teamwork, the governing body Surfing England, bring the resources and some personnel, and work closely with, and invest in the local surf club, and between the two organisations, and of course the sponsors, they plan and deliver a great event for the youngsters.
With 20-minute heats, and 24 heats to run through there was a solid eight hours of surfing, and in the bright sunshine, and small waves, the judges had their work cut out with so many waves being ridden in every heat. However on this occasion we had a really strong judging panel headed up by Aaron Evans, which was fantastic to see. Quarter-finals of the under 14 boys were followed by quarterfinals of the under 12 boys and girls before the semifinals began as a tide reached its peak.
At around 1 pm one of the highlights of this tour took place, which is growing in popularity, the treasure hunt sponsored and organised by Simon at RYD, some amazing prizes all hidden in the sand, and it does not take long for a bunch of frothing Groms to find.
By late afternoon the finals were underway starting with the boys under 12’s and a very popular win was taken by Harvey Waters in first followed by Cassius, Tommy Hamilton in third and Joshua in fourth, fantastic to see the smiles on all of the faces as they came up to collect the awards.
The under 12 girls was equally hotly contested with local shredder Ellie Hickie taking the win over Mila Barber, Betsie Reay from Bude in third, and Willow Craxton forth. A real strong showing from many of the Newquay board riders’ team, but great to see it mixed up with others who have travelled a long way including West Wales to compete.
With the tide now dropping out, and the surf diminishing a bit, it was down to the under 14 boys’ final, with a very popular and frequently seen name taking the win, that of local Joshi James, it was a close final with Jensen Martin just second, followed by Jack Strutt and Max Harbour.
The final heat of the day was the under 14 girls’ final which saw a head-to-head between top English and Welsh surfers. On this occasion however the English under 14 champion Lila Skinner took the win, ahead of current Welsh champion Josie Hawke, and in a very tight contest Bude’s Coco Arthur was third, with Taylor Shelmerdine in fourth.
With the sun still blazing down the presentations took place on the beach with a long list of thanks given by Phil, and also appreciation shown from Newquay board riders chairman Eddie Knight, with the medals being handed over by Max Palmer, in his first year with Surfing England.
Huge thanks to all of those that volunteered and were involved in this event including water support, the judges, Beach Marshalls, MC’s, Timing disc operator, all those involved in hospitality for the event that kept everybody fed and watered, and of course the great NBR barbecue. Thanks also to Jenny Briant for letting us use the beach, and of course the surfers for keeping out of the lineup.
Particularly appreciate the efforts of Zoe Sheath, who did so much behind the scenes, and of course all the athletes as well as their support crew for making the day such a fun event.
We are very much looking forward to the next event with our friends at Saints Boardriders in St Ives, scheduled for June 8th. The standard of surfing at this level is getting better and better and it is proving to be a real positive response to the gap that Surfing England identified to help nurture not just competitive surfers at these ages, but for those who would like to enter a contest for the first time’.
Huge thanks to our headline sponsors Animal UK
