|
news
reubyn ash wins Euro Juniors!
Reubyn celebrates. Pic: Lucia Griggi.
On the weekend the final events of the European surfing federation’s European Junior Surfing Championships for 2006 were completed. What an amazing finish to conclude 10 days of intense competition in the European Junior Surfing Championships. With the finals of the girl’s body board, Karma Worthington (U14), Toby Donachie (U14), Ben Haworth (Longboard), alongside Tom Butler and Reubyn Ash in their U18’s division, England already had set 5 marked finals.
Reubyn Ash boost! Pic: Sharpy
Karma Worthington (Croyde) had an outstanding heat producing some neat precise turns in solid surfing conditions taking the leading position into the finals. Competing against the other top three bodyboarders in Europe Karma took fourth position in for her division, collecting an overall score for the Headworx English team of 670 points.
Toby Donachie (North Cornwall) another talented young team member, was up against top international athletes within his division. With sheer determination and focus at the task at hand, Toby showed to the best of his ability some solid turns, floaters and other good surfing maneuvers on both set waves and smaller reforming waves on the inside.
Joel, Head Coach, stated, ’This is the first time Toby has competed at an international level, with his solid surfing ability and style, no difference could be seen between Toby and those top guys within his division.’ Achieving 4th in Europe in the U14 division and accumulating once again a huge 670 points for team England, Toby will be returning home proud.
Ben Haworth (North Devon), longboard finalist, finished outstandingly in second place. The level of surfing seen by Ben was impressive with progressive maneuvers on set waves out back, Ben took the waves right to the inside showing the judges the best of his traditional hang five tricks and drop knee turns on the inside sections.
To conclude the day’s finalists one of the most exciting heats of the day was to be surfed. Fighting for the Junior European title was young Bude local Reubyn Ash and Newquay resident Tom Butler from team England, alongside two high profiled French competitors to surf the finals. With both English contenders leading and dominating the 25minute heat, England was set to take home 1st and 2nd position. With Reubyn surfing textbook style and looking good on every wave ridden alongside Tom taking once again the biggest set waves of the day, both juniors claimed the two highest wave scores of the heat at a total of 12.4 for Reubyn, putting him in to 1st position, and a 12.37 for Tom placing him in second. Unfortunately, needing only a 0.8 score, Adrien Toyon from France took off on a high scoring wave, within the final stages and countdown to the heat, leaving a close margin resulting in pushing Tom down to third position. Romain Cloitre also from France took fourth position having a combined total of 8.56.
Joel further went on to say,’ Tom had some solid waves on his backhand, surfing outstandingly well and consistently dominating the larger set waves coming through his heat. Tom being our team captain has established himself as a competent team player and excellent team captain throughout the whole event, I would love to see Tom in the final six in the pro junior next year.’
With an astonishing winning result from one of our most talented English surfers, Reuben has marked a place in history. Not since 1990 with current WCT rider Russell Winter winning the title, have we not just taken up 5 places in the finals, but bringing home for the first time in 16 years the trophy.
www.eurojuniorferrol.com
www.surfingfrance.com/event
Kathleen Spears Photo: Lucia Griggi
Reubyn Ash has won the European Junior Surfing Championships Under 18 title and teammate Tom Butler surfed into third place. The finals took place at Doninhos, Ferrol, Spain in windy conditions with a stormy six-foot swell running.
In the Under 14s Toby Donachie showed his potential is very real with a fourth place finish. Ben Haworth took second in the Longboard division with Irish surfer Kevin Doyle taking third. Karma Worthington pulled off a fourth placing in the Ladies Bodyboard division. Team England stormed into fourth place overall out of 12 competing countries.
MORE INFO AND PICS TO FOLLOW! Congrats to all our team!
Team Results
1. France
2. Portugal
3. Spain
4. England
Men U/18
1. Reubyn Ash ENG
2. Adrien Toyon FRA
3. Tom Butler ENG
4. Romain Cloître FRA
Men U/14
1. Maxime Huscenot FRA
2. Dimitri Ouvre FRA
3. Frederico Morais POR
4. Toby Donachie ENG
Longboard
1. Mathieu Marechal FRA
2. Ben Haworth ENG
3. Kevin Doyle IRE
4. Francisco Vaz POR
Ladies Surf
1. Pauline Ado FRA
2. Lee Ann Curren FRA
3. Francisca Santos POR
4. Garazati Ortun SPN
Bodyboard Ladies
1. Marta Perez SPN
2. Roxanne Bonnet FRA
3. Marta Fernandes POR
4. Karma Worthington ENG
15 November, 2006 : - - A brighter day today, but rather windy, and the wind was to make it's mark on the contest. The waves were still sizable, but a strong off-shore wind meant catching any of them was going to be difficult, and so it proved as many surfers had trouble catching more than 2 or 3 waves in their 20 minute heats.
First into the water this morning was Owen Murphy from Donegal in the Under 16 surfing category. Owen was the first irish surfer to enter the water in drastically changed conditions. Despite his best efforts it wasn't to be and he finished 3rd in his heat. He is now ranked 17th and has earned 400 points for the irish team.
Following Owen into the water was Damien Conway from Lahinch, again in the U16 event. Damien opted to gamble and aimed for the higher scoring potential waves which were more difficulat to catch with the prevailing off-shore winds. The gamble paid off with Damien winning the heat, meaning further action for him during the day.
Following the two U16 surfers were the two U18 surfers Hugh Galloway, and Stephen Kilfeather. A similar result happened for the two U18's as for the U16's. Hugh placed 3rd in his heat, again ranked 17th and earning 400 points. While Stephen placed 2nd to progress to the next round of the U18 event.
After the surfers it was the turn of the irish bodyboarders to hit the water. First up was Oran McGovern in the U16 event. Oran is the youngest member of the irish team at this event, and is actually young enough to be U14 if that category was available for the bodyboarders. But U16 is the youngest event for the bodyboarders and Oran more than showed he was capable of competing against the older guys.
Unfortunately the wind conditions today did not help him at all. On some occassions he was blown off a wave as he tried to catch it. Despite a very valient effort, Oran placed 4th in his heat and is now ranked 11th in europe, he also earned the team a very valuble 475 points.
Next in the water was Aidan Kelly in the U18 bodyboarding, Aidan is the current irish junior champion, and also placed 7th in the u16s event at the last european junior championships. Aidan had a very tough heat, but has progressed into R4 the final round prior to the grand final, this means he will at a minimum be ranked in the top 6 of europe.
Shortly after Aidan's heat the wind decided to cause some drama on the contest site by gusting very strongly, and causing the competitors tented area to come adrift. This triggered an immediate evacuation of that area and restablishment of base-camps for all the teams. The irish were the quickest off the mark and swiftly resettled close-by.
After the drama it was the turn of Amy May Garvey in the U18 ladies surf event facing 2 israeli surfers and a welsh surfer. Following a great early wave Amy-May solidified her 2nd place in the heat to progress into round R3. Again, ensuring further action later in the day.
Amy-may had a difficult prospect against 2 English surfers, and another from Wales. This event is Amy-May’s first international level surfing event and no doubt the experience she has gained will stand to her in the future. She showed a lot of ambition and dedication, but unfortunately the waves just didn’t come for her, and she finished 4th. As a result she is now ranked 11th in Europe earning 475 points for the team.
In the U18 Stephen with another solid performance, this time against Spain, Wales and Israel. Stephen had a tight battle with the Spanish surfer, while the Israeli surfer got two very solid scores, but Stephen showed his experience from past European and world championships and held onto 2nd place allowing him to progress into R4.
Damien put in a similar performance in the U16, this time against a pair of Italian surfers and a Spaniard. He solidly scored his two required waves and held onto 2nd place right through to the end of the heat. He now progresses to R4 the same stage as Stephen.
Ireland still have 5 competitors in the event, and the current schedule for day 5 has heats for Stephen and Damien. Tahlia, Kevin and Aidan will have a break from the contest. The team has the potential to earn another 5000 points, having earned 3,900 already.
For those who may be interested there is a website for the event and when the satellite link is working you can watch live video, and result updates. You can also send messages to the team through the website.
Headworx English Junior Surf Team Still Strong
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 15 November, 2006 : - - With a great start to the day, the Headworx English Junior Surf Team showed off some outstanding surfing ability which was seen in the most testing of conditions seen so far. The contest was held throughout the day with an early start of 8am for the surfers, the conditions were hard, with contenders surfing in solid 4-6ft surf with gale force winds.
First in the water was young body boarder Alex Wake who surfed well standing in 2nd position throughout his heat until the last remaining minutes in resulting to 3rd place needing a 3.5 to progress back to 2nd.
Alex successfully picked up 500 points for the team and landed 9th position in his division. Shortly following this, Croyde local Kathleen Spears had an outstanding surf, dominating the heat and firmly leading by a good wave selection and showing off some solid turns on the best set waves rolling through. She achieved a good combination of scores resulting in progressing to the semi finals in her division to join her fellow team mate Newquay residant Holly Donnelly.
Tony Good, Team Manager, expresses ‘the standard of the girls' surfing has improved dramatically and with a strong team behind us it is becoming more noticeable as the pressure is piled on. Kathleen and Holly have performed exceptionally well, preparing themselves with potentially tricky conditions seen, with the rest of the team learning from their performances.’
To conclude the day’s events, which were called off by 3pm due to drastic weather conditions, Holly Donnelly and Kathleen Spears were head to head against the Irish and Portuguese, Holly consistently holding the lead with a combination score of 8.67, with Kathleen dropping from 2nd position to 3rd mid heat, unfortunately leaving the Portuguese to go through.
Holly stated, ‘I am so happy with my performance today, I couldn’t see what the Portuguese were doing so I was ecstatic when I heard the results. I was a little nervous but once out there I felt 100% and felt confident in the surf which seemed quite daunting at first.’
Joel Gray, Head Coach firmly said ‘4 days and half way through the event, we are international athletes and as we progress through and the pressure increases our scores are getting bigger, we will achieve top 3 position and put up a good fight with our competition.’
Day 5 will see a great standard of international surfing ability, with many semi finals to be held and the conditions will once again be expected to be testing for our athletes. Lying in 4th position overall, England has yet to gain many points with the u18 and u16 boys looking strong for their divisional heats tomorrow.
www.eurojuniorferrol.com
www.surfingfrance.com/event
|
