UCF wipes out the competition at the BUCS National Surfing Championships

On 17th-19th October at Fistral Beach, Newquay, Falmouth Surf Team took on some of the best young surfers in the UK in the BUCS National Surfing Championships and whittled down the competition to take top honours, showing UCF to be at the leading edge of University surfing.

The BUCS championships are the highlight of the university surfing calendar and with over 100 women and 200 men travelling from universities across the UK, it is now the largest senior surfing competition in Britain.

The weekend kicked off early on Friday morning and competitors enjoyed perfectly clean conditions accompanied by warm sunshine. As the spectators lapped up the sun, the competitors carved up the surf, setting a high standard that was both great to watch and tough to judge.

Smaller waves on the Saturday gave contestants a different challenge, testing their technical abilities to the max, but fortunately the wave had just enough power for contestants to be able to impress the judges. There were already some clear favourites emerging and the final on Sunday was a mouth-watering prospect.

The competition reached its climax on Sunday with textbook Fistral conditions as epic waves greeted a charged set of final competitors and judges. The stage was set for a spectacular finale and the finalists did not disappoint.

In the Women's event Plymouth University appeared to have the upper hand with two surfers in the final four, and sure enough, following an impressive battle and tightly fought heat, Amy Brock-Morgan (Plymouth) emerged victorious to take the top spot. Falmouth's Isabella Burke, determined not to let Plymouth take all the glory, snatched a well deserved second place closely followed by third placed Jaydene Kerton (Plymouth) and fourth place Hannah Dixon (Swansea).

Falmouth surfers dominated the men's final with both Josh Leatherbarrow and Fabian Baker representing UCF battling it out against Rob Webster-Blythe (Cardiff) and Jacob Downs (Plymouth). The two Falmouth guys were clearly enjoying themselves and putting on a fantastic show as they cruised through to take first (Josh) and second (Fabian) on the winners' podium. Far from out-classed, and giving equally fine performances Jacob Downs and Rob Webster-Blythe took third and fourth respectively.

After three days of intense competition it was the Falmouth team that covered themselves with glory and showed that they are the best in the UK with the Men's team retaining the title for the second year and lifting the Championship trophy and the ladies taking home individual silver and team bronze. The judges were all agreed, the standard of competition was particularly high this year and seems to be getting better all the time.

With this in mind, we can't wait for next year when competitors will have a very tough act to follow, and UCF will be in everyone's sights as they will, once again, be the ones to beat.

Men A:
Josh Letherbarrow - 1st Individual
Fabian Baker - 2nd Individual
Jason Macbroom
Adam Barbery

Men B:
Ben Howard
Ben Gatley
Hannes Simon
Ollie Attwell

Ladies:
Isabella Burke - 2nd Individual
Kirsty Cartwright

The next event on the surfing Calendar was the second annual FXU and Freeriders surf competition, which took to the water at Godrevy on Saturday 8 November under challenging conditions. Competitors from UCF, University of Exeter Cornwall Campus, Exeter (main Campus) and Plymouth were all challenging for the title of best university surfer in the South West.

After assessing the conditions at 7am, Keith Richards of Freeriders Surf Shop decided to move the competition to Mexico's which offered more shelter and smaller swell.

"The surf was slight and swelling overhead, but the wind was getting stronger by the minute, so taking weather, waves and limited daylight into account, the competition had to be run with tight precision," says Keith.

In his role as chief judge, Keith was using a competition format that he has developed himself, which involves the competitors also taking an active role in the judging. This enabled everyone to be involved all the way through the competition and proved very popular with the competitors.

The women's competition was an eagerly anticipated rematch between Isobella Burke and Jaydene Kerton, who were placed 2^nd and 3^rd respectively in the BUCS surfing championships month. Jaydene, of Plymouth University was particularly determined to prove a point and pulled out all the stops to put in an impressive performance and reverse last month's finishing position to take top spot from Isobella of UCF.

After the ladies had set the bar high, the men had a lot to live up to. Spectators were not disappointed as the men's competition was of a high standard throughout leading to a talent filled final. Unfortunately fading light meant that the final was cut short and final positions were awarded on count back. Plymouth's Tom Hill and Matt Le Maitre took first and second with Jason Macbroom (UCF) and Rob Hanley (Exeter) taking third and fourth respectively.

Hanna Royle the FXU Sports and Recreation Officer and co-organiser of the competition said: "The day was a huge success with exciting performances from everyone involved. It's great to get guys and girls from all over the south west meeting up and competing in Cornwall." She continued, "We are now looking forward to next year when we hope the event will continue to grow and attract some of the best surfers the UK has to offer."

Hanna and Keith would like to thank the competition sponsors including Skinners Brewery, Body Glove, C Skins, Ocean and Earth, Pure Blue, Red Bull and Xcel for their generosity and support making events like this possible. Thanks also go to UCF's, Joe O'Brien the official event photographer, who captured all the action.

All proceeds from a prize draw went to the Silver Dolphin Marine Education Centre, Penzance.

Results:

Open Division
1 Tom Hill - Plymouth
2 Matt Le Maitre - Plymouth
3 Jason MacBroom - UCF
4 Rob Hanley - Exeter

Ladies
1 Jaydene Kerton - Plymouth
2 Isobella Burke - UCF
3 Ellie Worrall - Exeter

Team
1 - Exeter
2 - UCF
3 - Plymouth

Top Judge - Adam Barbery (UCF)

Tweet