Surfing in Thurso East: warm and sunny

Mark Cameron has conquered the Scottish National Surfing Championship 2012, at the famous wave peak of Thurso East. The surfer from Fraserburgh had to defeat two local stars, Chris Noble and Mark Boyd, to get the title in his hands.

Cameron, 34, won his first Scottish national surfing title in 2008. Despite the challenging conditions, the event crowned champions in all categories.

In the Senior division, Chris and George Noble got over Mark Cameron and kept the gold and silver medals at Thurso. This year also saw the largest number of ladies to have ever entered the event. Shoana Blackadder defeated Sarah Dickson and Jill Noble and took the Women's national title.

Chris and Scratch have been dominating the Scottish Nationals for the last 10 years and Mark Boyd was hungry for victory having placed 3rd, in the last four years.

The start of the open final was much slower than previous heats with not many set waves coming through. Mark Cameron linked turns and a 360 on an inside wave to open his account.

The only goofy footer and youngest competitor in the final, Mark Boyd, narrowly missed the first set wave of the heat having tried to maintain priority over Chris Noble.

Chris caught the wave underneath Boydie and nailed two solid turns to open his account, getting the better of Scratch on this exchange. Despite a couple of earlier poor wave choices by Cameron he found another insider in which he smoothly combined modern surfing with some classic turns.

Noble's experienced showed as he waited patiently out the back for another set, meanwhile Boydie wasted time on some smaller inside waves as he panicked. Masson was also struggling to find anything substantial.

Boydie finally got a score on the board but it would need to be backed up to take the lead with only five minutes remaining.

Noble was in position for the final set of the heat after having waited patiently. His first turn didn't quite connect right despite the wave selection being superior to Cameron's. He finished the wave well however, with a radical snap on the inside section but it wouldn't be quite enough to take the top spot.

Less than a point separated Scratch and Chris for first and second place, Boydie took the prize for highest wave score of the event as well as another 3rd place finish in the open and Iain Masson came in fourth.

Open

1. Mark Cameron (Fraserburgh)
2. Chris Noble (Thurso)
3. Mark Boyd (Thurso)

Women

1. Shoana Blackadder (Thurso)
2. Sarah Dickson (Aberdeen)
3. Jill Noble (Fraserburgh)

Longboard

1. Mark Boyd (Thurso)
2. Iain Masson (Fraserburgh)
3. Robbie McKay (Macduff)

Junior

1. Jamie Bain (Fraserburgh)
2. Greg Millar (Banff)
3. Andrew Robertson (St Andrews)

Senior

1. Chris Noble (Thurso)
2. George Noble (Fraserburgh)
3. Mark Cameron (Fraserburgh)

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