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Young British surfers excel at UK leg
by George Mojo
04/06/2007:// Young British surfers proved their wave-riding has plenty of bite picking up top honours in the UK leg of the Moskito tour in Newquay.
With just under a hundred groms entering the two day event and great conditions throughout the weekend the contest proved to be the best yet in Europe during 2007.
Competition kicked off early on Saturday morning with a consistent 2-3 foot swell and light offshore winds giving competitors a great opportunity to show off their skills.
With the rain holding off, and the promise of sunny skies ahead, the crowds at the beach were about to witness the UK's best up and coming surfers in action.
The early rounds of the Under 12's and Girls divisions got underway, with heats running back to back maximizing the great conditions on offer. From early on, 11 year old Harry Timson proved to be a surfer to watch out for, ripping through his early heats in the under 12's division with some fantastic surfing.
Zoe Sheath (15) and Newquay's Holly Donelly (15) cruised through the early girls rounds getting themselves into the final against other stand outs Kathlean Spears and Tassy Swallows.
It was Donelly however who took the honours winning the girls division with some impressive surfing to seal the victory! Holly also posted the highest score of the event with a 9.17.
In the Under 12's, Newquay's Harry Timson convincingly took the win, with a high standard of surfing beyond his years, even managing to combo the other 3 finalists with a combined 2 wave score of 17.33.
After the prize giving Harry said, "I'm really excited, I surfed well today and I can't wait to get in the Under 14's. I'm gonna try and win that too!"
On day two of the competition there was a solid 4 to 5 foot shore-break pounding the high tide mark at Fistral.
Event directors were pleased to have completed the under 12's division the previous day.
"The shorey was pretty heavy," said Phil Richardson, Marketing Manager for Electric Europe. "Some of the younger kids were amped for it but you can't expect everyone to get out there, especially if they don't know the break at Fistral as well as others."
The first round of Under 16's got underway from 9am with all 8 heats running back to back, followed by the quarter finals of the Under 14's division. As the tide dropped the swell started to pick up on the good banks at Fistral, providing perfect 4 to 5 foot competition waves.
Again, youngster Harry Timson was proving to be a formidable contender, cruising through his heats in the under 14's and working his way into the semis with some impressive surfing in the larger conditions.
Leon Mansfield, aged 14, also showed off some great moves, putting in powerful turns and high performance maneuvers throughout his heats, working his way into the Under 14's final.
In the Under 16's heats Jack Butler (16) and Toby Donachie from Constantine showed off some fantastic surfing, with Toby posting the highest Under 16 combined score of 16.90.
Butler was unfortunate not to make the final but Donachie powered through to meet the other 3 finalists - Josh Hughes, Stuart Campbell and Josh Piper.
The final of the Under 14's kicked off in excellent mid-tide Fistral surf.
From the outset Leon Mansfield posted high scores and looked set to win the heat hands down.
His high standard of surfing and wave selection was phenomenal and he was rewarded by the judges high scores, combo'ing his fellow competitors with a 16.00.
The final of the Under 16's was the most competitive heat of the event with all four surfers working hard to claim the win.
With some great surfing Donachie almost had the final in the bag and was getting ready to claim the win but in the dying moments of the heat Stuart Campbell rode an excellent wave from way outside, whacking it all the way through to the inside, and scored well for it, getting the score he needed to steal victory away from Donachie.
Phil Richardson, Marketing Manager for Electric Europe, said "I'm really stoked with how the event went off, we couldn't have asked for better conditions, the standard of kids surfing in the UK is as good as anywhere in Europe! I was really impressed with the way the kids attacked the surf and also with the UK surf scene".
Electronic judging System: For the first time in a BSA event a revolutionary digital judging system was used. Each judge disposed of the usual clipboard and paper score sheet method, replacing it for a handheld computer system that wirelessly converted the scores back to the main computer. This allowed for instant results not only benefiting the BSA staff but also the spectators and competitors.
Brad Hockridge, from Santa Cruz Europe, said "The event was a great success, we were blessed with great waves for competitors to show off their potential. We flew Matt 'Ratt' in from the States and we were stoked to see him throwing some big maneuvers in the UK surf and for him to be on hand to explain the Santa Cruz Epoxy board revolution."
The Moskito Tour now heads to Santander in Spain to get the best out of the Spanish groms!
Final Results:
Under 16 Division 1. Stuart Campbell 2. Toby Donachie 3. Josh Hughes 4. Josh Piper
Under 14 Division 1. Leon Mansfield 2. Max Tucker 3. Chris Kelly 4. Tom Good
Under 12 Division 1. Harry Timson 2. Sam Harwood 3. Connor Swan 4. Dillon Scotney
Cornwall's Russell Winter has had a superb start at the Buondi Billabong Pro in Portugal notching up one of the top four heat scores of the competition so far
Cornwall's Ruebyn Ash put in a superb performance to reach his second European Pro Junior final of the season
Skins "King of the Groms" Contest and Spencer Hargraves raise £800
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