2025 Junior Surf Series delivers with epic surf at Widemouth Bay

After the disappointment of having to postpone the first Junior Surf Series event of the year which was due to be at South Shields, it was fantastic to get stop two completed on a great day filled with excitement, quality waves and fantastic surfing.

Due to the wind forecast for the Saturday, organisers in conjunction with the local team decided Sunday would be the preferred day with light winds, and quality surf throughout the day. Just after 7am, Bude Wave Riders and Surfing England staff set up the contest site and, as planned, at 8am the surfers’ briefing took place, with the first heat of 23 in at 8:30 am.

This series, now in its fifth year, has grown in popularity and the quality of the surfing seen on Sunday certainly proved just how successful a development series it has become. There were 53 surfers in total, coming from all over England and a strong contingent from Wales, all competing for the titles in the under 12 and under 14 categories for both boys and girls.

Experienced head judge Ester Spears led the judging team, which gave the local judges a great opportunity to build confidence, including local surfer Coco Arthur, who is now too old for the event but wanted to give something back.

The heats moved swiftly, and despite some at times challenging conditions, particularly at low tide, the surfers showed great enthusiasm in what was properly double overhead surf. There were no incidents thanks to an amazing job by the Bude Wave Riders lifeguard crew, who did their very best to keep the space free from other local surfers.

Just before the finals took place, all involved were treated to the much-anticipated RYD treasure hunt with Simon Nicholson cleverly hiding prizes in the sand, which didn’t take long to be found by the frothing groms.

With regards to the results, in the under 12 boys Cassius Woudberg continued his amazing run of victories with some fantastic surfing, and a total score of 13.43 in the final. It was great to see Monty Cole from west Wales also performing really well, and taking second place ahead of Frankie Middleton and Ted Davies.

Since the Junior Surf Series began, the under 12 girls category has seen remarkable development, and in solid overhead conditions Katarina Roth Gale took command of the girls’ final right from the start. Certainly a star of Welsh surfing for the future. Big well done also to Martha Edwards, Arabella Peres, and Betsie Reay who performed really well throughout.

The under 14 boys was an incredibly exciting heat with Harvey Waters taking the title with an overall score of 14.3, but the three remaining surfers behind him all scored over 12 points and were only separated by less than 0.5 of a point. Huge congratulations then also to Sampson Houghton in second, Jensen Martin in third, and Jack Strutt in fourth.

The final heat of the day, the under 14 girls, was another very exciting matchup in particular between Ellie Hickie and Bella Llewellyn, with the scores changing numerous times throughout the heat, but finally won by Ellie ahead of Bella. Congratulations also to Rosie and Eva; a very well surfed heat by all four girls.

For the first time in this series, it was decided that for this year, providing there were staff available we would be trialling priority for the under 14s, and this worked really well this weekend. Another new innovation which Bude introduced due to the weak phone signal at Widemouth, the club purchased a Starlink box, which provided strong Wi-Fi signal throughout the day – another great innovation by the local club.

Around 5 pm the medal presentation took place, with the sun making an appearance, and master of ceremonies and head of Bude Wave Riders Martin Reay guiding us through the results. Thanks and a special big welcome to Boardmasters Foundation, who have stepped up and become the headline sponsor for the tour this year. They had the team doing a little promo video throughout the day with some great stories, which no doubt will feature in the finished edit.

Many people to thank including the team that did a brilliant job keeping the break free from other surfers, the media team, the refreshments team, and all the key roles that were needed to make sure this event ran smoothly. A great example of partnership between the national governing body and the local surf club.

Lots of smiles throughout the day from not only the surfers, but also from the support crew and of course the staff team and volunteers. Everybody is now looking forward to the next event, which will be in Newquay on the 13^th September as part of the Surf Skate Expo and hosted by Newquay Board Riders.