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4-star tournament begins at Torneo Playa Carmen
by Ellen Zoe Golden
14/03/2008:// José Ureña, President of the Federacion de Surf de Costa Rica (FSC), announced today that the fifth date of the 2007-08 Circuito Nacional de Surf (CNS) will take place this weekend, March 15 and 16, in Playa Carmen.. Called Torneo Playa Carmen, the 4-star tournament will begin each morning at 7:00 a.m. and award the winner of each category 1,500 points.
This is an important contest in many ways, not the least of which is because the Costa Rica National Surf Team will have the last opportunity here to use this date as the last one before traveling to Playa Venao, Provincia de Todos Los Santos, Panamá for the third annual Central American Surf Championships on March 21, 22, and 23. Those surfers in the Open category include: Gilbert Brown (Puerto Viejo), Mattias Braun (Montezuma), Jason Torres (Jaco) and Diego Naranjo (Jaco).
In addition, the Torneo Playa Carmen is the fifth date of the seven CNS dates this year, bringing the countrywide surf tournament past the halfway mark. With it, the Puerto Brown, who is currently ranked #1 on the CNS Open chart—and the lead surfer on the Tico Team going to the Central American Surf Championships—will go into the Torneo Playa Carmen with a lead almost 800 points ahead of Braun, the next closest competitor. Nevertheless, the performances of the surfers have a lot of possibilities and they are all hungry for the title, and that includes Braun, as well as Torres, Jairo Pérez, current Costa Rican National Surf Champion Diego Naranjo, as well as his brother Juan Carlos Naranjo.
For the Junior category, the work of Pérez, Carlos Muñoz (Esterillos), Ariel Agüero (Quepos) and Anderson Tascon (Jaco) will be vital preparation for their task at the Central American Surf Championships. As to the overall title, it’s all but settled that Pérez will surf away with the trophy again this year; in the Torneo Playa Carmen he is favored once again as well.
Over in the Women’s category, two other Central American Surf Championship team members are also apart of the story of the year: the return of the champion par excellence, Lisbeth Vindas (Jaco)who has managed a phenomenal level in the CNS, disabling young upstart and current National Women’s Surf Champion Nataly Bernold (Jaco). In addition, Pavones’ Laura Pecoraro has brought the category a level missing from the scene the last few years, a challenge that will continue in Playa Carmen this weekend.
For this date, the Federacion de Surf de Costa Rica expects more than 250 surfers to inscribe at this, one of the most beautiful contest sites of the Circuito. Playa Carmen is known for its white sands, a charismatic population, in addition to an atmosphere of security and peace, as much on the beach as in the town. As to the conditions expected for this weekend, according to the website of the website www.wetsand.com, the waves should run about 3 feet in height at the most. However, Playa Carmen is a sand bottom, beach break, known for its consistency, so the conditions always are acceptable.
Inscriptions for the Torneo Playa Carmen will take place Friday, March 14 at Commercial Center Carmen Beach between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. Costs are c6000 for Open, Women’s Longboard, Bodyboaders and Masters, and c5,000 for Boys, Juniors, Junior Women’s, Grommets, Mini-Grommets and Novices. Additionally, first-time registrants must pay an annual FSC membership fee of c10,000.
Once again, the 2007-08 Circuito Nacional de Surf will offer spectators an added visual treat before the surf trophies on Sunday, at approximately 3:00 p.m. with the Miss Organic & Nature contest. Each winner receives $100 and a chance to earn the overall title -- and $1,000 -- at the Reef Gran Finals in April. So far, the winners have been, Alexandra Vasquez, Kimberly Bondurant, Guadalupe Solís, Michelle Arias, Jetsi Hernández, Marion Leroy, Debbie Zec, and Yessenia Alfaro.
The 2007-08 Circuito Nacional de Surf International Sponsors are: Powerade, Coca-Cola, RedBull, Billabong, Quiksilver, Roxy, Reef. National Sponsors include: 911 Groovy Radio, Banco Nacional, Witch’s Rock Surf Camp, Hotel & Resort Terraza del Pacifico, Bar & Restaurant El Tabacon, Hotel Playa Carmen, Quique Surf Shop, Coldwell Banker Peninsula Trading Co., Banzaii Surfboards, Banana Wax, Remax Surfside, Cala Luna Hotel & Villas, The Backyard Hotel, Mango Surf & Skate, Jass Surf Shop, Roca Bruja Surf & Skate Shop, Carton Surfboards, Chiclets Canopy Tree Tour, Gimnasios Platinum Fitness Center, Chuck’s W.O.W. Surf Shop, Shifi Surf Shots, Surfos Magazine.
For more information on the Circuito Nacional de Surf or the Federacion de Surf de Costa Rica, please go to the new webpage at www.surfingcr.net.
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