| Russel Winter conquers his first British Surf Open Championship |
| Thursday, 06 November 2008 10:24 |
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The 2008 British National Surf Championships - sponsored by Fistral Beach Surf Hire in association with Body Glove, Tiger24, Freeriders Surf Shop and Overhead Surf and media partners Carve & Surfgirl Magazine - will certainly be one to remember! This weekend (25th & 26th October) surfers from across the country converged on Fistral Beach, Newquay, to make the most of solid 6ft waves in one of the most prestigious contests on British soil. With a bitter wind and changeable weather conditions, all of the contestants were pushed to the max with challenging, arm-stretching 10 minute paddle-outs. The action was explosive with the likes of Russell Winter pulling out big air-reverses while defending senior champion Ben Baird turned on the power with huge, gouging power carves. Saturday saw all of the initial rounds being successfully completed and a later Sunday start ensured that the nail-biting finals were run on the high tide, giving the surfers the best possible conditions to put on an amazing show for the beach–side spectators. In the Veterans category, defending champion and local legend, Jed Stone opened the heat with a 4.0 ride leaving Gary Collins hitting back with a string of hacks claiming a top score of 5.83. Jed replied with two huge turns out back and a ride through to the inside scoring a 7.17. With Jed confidently in the driving seat, the three other surfers couldn’t match his experience and he claimed the Veteran title for the ninth time. In the Masters, only feeler gauges could separate the four surfers - from Tony Good’s excellent wave selection picking out all off the best waves, down to Cullum Murrells aggressive back hand attack. The computer judging system was like a kaleidoscope of colour with the situation changing after each wave ridden, with the commentator out of breath reading scores and requirements for surfers to win. Steve Winter and Chris Harris also worked hard throughout the heat but it was Newquay resident Murrell who emerged victorious. The British Women then hit the water for what was to be essentially a two woman final between Jo Dennison and Kathleen Spears. Welsh girl Jo claimed a 8.00 for one of the most radical close out re-entries of the contest, smoothly earning her the British 2008 Woman’s Champion title. On the beach and online the audience then gathered expectantly for the Open final on the perfectly placed high tide which was lashing up head high plus waves. Oli Adams set the pace straight after the horn with a 6.67 and a showcase of fast off-the-tops and stylish fin release re-entries. Mitch Corbett then stepped in to show his laidback smooth style earning a 6.0 from the judges. Up next was renowned aerialist Joss Ash who masterminded a range of smacks off-the-top earning his first real score of 5.67. But with less than three minutes to go, Russell Winter then paddled-into a left-hander that started out back then opened up all the way through to the inside. He gave everything possible, tearing the wave to pieces earning a 7.60 and leaving the water. A last minute attempt by Joss Ash gave him the chance to try and steal Russell’s thunder but his valiant 6.27 just wasn’t enough. WQS surfer Winter celebrated his first British Open Champion title in over 15 years as well as the Senior’s top podium placing. Russell said, “It was really great to be competing back where my roots are and I had a great laugh and joke with the old boys. It’s certainly changed days with me also being in the Seniors and a lot of my old peers being in the Masters. Definitely a different story to 15 years ago! I really was putting everything on the line and although I felt that I surfed well in my heats, there was a lot of hard paddling and it really was pot luck with the waves with the conditions being the way they were.” Contest Director Anton Roberts says, “It was without a doubt a sick weekend with extremely cold and challenging conditions but we couldn’t have asked for more solid swell. Huge congratulations to all of the competitors and on behalf of the BSA, I would like to thank all of the sponsors for their contribution to the sport. A huge amount of appreciation must also go to all of the staff and officials who worked so hard to make the event the success it was.” Nick Briant of Fistral Beach Hire says, “All of the team at Fistral Beach Hire were delighted to get behind such a prestigious contest with our sponsorship. To witness the top British surfers performing in such awesome conditions right on our doorstep made us all very proud.” For the first time ever the whole event action and live scoring was also streamed on the web by sponsors Tiger24. In the past only the Rip Curl Boardmasters has had this resource and the invaluable new addition brought 5,700 unique hits from all across the world on Saturday alone. Dave Sale from Tiger24 says, "We never imagined this amount of people would hit our site but we have learnt a lot this weekend and will now move forward ready for next year’s events. Bringing even more higher quality images will mean the contest is open for viewers across the world and it will bring a host of added benefits for sponsors.”
Open Womans Veterans Masters
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