BRITISH SURF CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010 - JUNIORS

Quiksilver surfers take the podium at the Billabong British Nationals 2010

With Beautiful sunshine and small but fun waves at Newquay's Fistral beach it was time to see who was the best of the British junior crop and who could be crowned 2010 British Champion.

With legendary winners including Nigel Semmens, Carywan Williams, Spencer Hargraves, Alan Stokes and Russell Winter it's a very special event to have your name engraved on the winning Trophy!

The conditions for the final day were prefect for the grom's to really show off the new school of surfing with names like Toby Donachie, Max Tucker and Jobe Harris all busting airs and plenty of tricks in the mix.  But the best surfing was saved to last by none other than Luke Dillon who had already taken out the Ripcurl English champs back in May, and eared himself a place in the European KOTGS in Spain.  Luke didn't only take out the under 16's but managed to maintain the same rhythm surfing back to back finals to also win the under 18's against a close fort 2nd to Toby Donachie (Quiksilver), 3rd Max Tucker, with this years KOTGS winner in 4th Jobe Harris.

In the Under 12's Harry De Roth (Quiksilver) gave us another great show and is truly putting his mark out there as a name to watch in the future of British surfing.   Harry finished 2nd in the Under 14's behind Liam Murray Strout, and 3rd was our new Quik rider Max Payne who also made the under 12th final with a 4th place.

In the Under 18's Girls, Gabi Rowe had some fantastic heats throughout the event but came up short of a wave to finish in 4th place so a great result seeming she still has 3 years in that category.

A great weekend of surfing for the UK Quik team.

Next week l will be in Spain for the European KOTGS so stay tuned to see how all the UK rippers get on.

Keep Surfing, Spence

UK & IRELAND GROMS COMPETE AT THE EUROPEAN KOTG FINALS, ZARAUTZ

Well what can l say?  Another great event to be had and where else than one of my favourite places in the world - Zarautz in the Basque country.  A small fishing village located about 30km across the French boarder into Spain, filled with lovely tapas bars along the beach front and really fun ripable waves for this years 2010 KOTGS. The UK and Ireland had six groms competing this year, all qualifying from the KOTG series which ran earlier in the year at Fistral Beach (UK) and Strandhill (Ire).  All the boys were in good spirits with a long line up of strong competition from the rest of Europe.  UK's Luke Dillon put up a good effort after his double win at the British champs the weekend before, making it though to the 1/4 finals.  Looking strong, he needed a 3.3 to make the semi but just missed it with a 3.26 score! That's surfing and sometimes the luck runs out.

Leo Fioravanti looked amazing throughout the event scoring three 8 point rides in his opening heat, never slowing down all day and taking out the event! This is why Leo is showing signs of having a potentially massive future in not only Europe but also at World level.

Along for the weekend supporting the groms at his local beach, and also on a break from the WCT, was legend Aritz Aranburu.   In amongst the KOTG competition,  Aritz organised a invitational tag-team contest where teams were made up of 1 local, 1 pro, and 1 grom.  Legends included pros - Micky Picon, Jorge Imbert, and even I got my name dropped into the event!  Surfers had to catch 3 waves each in 50 minutes and the winning team would be rewarded with a friendly cheer from the Basque spectators, and to add to a fantastic weekend was live music from a local band called “The Standard”…..  needless to say, it was my team that won the contest… haha!

LEONARDO FIORAVANTI WINS THE EUROPEAN FINAL OF THE QUIKSILVER KOTG

The young Italian surfer and Quiksilver team member Leonardo Fioravanti today emerged victorious in the European Final of the Quiksilver King of the Groms 2010, on the beach in Zarautz, ahead of France's Alexandre Descacq and the two Basques Ethan Eguiguren and Naxto Gonzalez .

At just 12 years of age, the Italian becomes the youngest winner of the Quiksilver King of the Groms for surfers in the under-16 category, in its current format. Having entered the contest as a wildcard, the young prodigy immediately made it crystal clear he was in it to win it, producing an outstanding performance against older opponents. In the final, Leo demonstrated exceptional technical ability and maturity beyond his years, scoring 6.5 for one wave and following that up with an 8-pointer. With a total of 14.50, Leo cemented his place on the top step of the podium and confirmed his status as one of European surfing's most promising young stars.

Having enjoyed the backing of Quiksilver from a very young age, Leo quickly became the mascot of a prestigious and protective team that includes big names like Kelly Slater, Dane Reynolds, Julian Wilson and Jérémy Florès. With special talent for his age, the 'mini gun' created a name for himself early on by winning the Mosquito Tour in 2007 and 2008, and then the Italian leg of the King of the Groms in 2008 and 2009. Following a remarkable debut at the ISA Junior World Championships in France in 2006, Leo did himself and his country proud with a hugely creditable 11th place finish at this year's ISA Junior Worlds in New Zealand. Where, let's not forget, he was competing in the under-16s category! An impressive achievement that drew admiration from across the world of surfing.

His victory today in Zarautz, in the backyard of Artiz Arunburu, is yet another confirmation of this young pro-surfer's unique talent. At 1.53m tall and weighing in at 36 kilos, Leo more than held his own against much bigger guys, to win a major continental title that takes him through to the International Final of the King of the Groms in the Landes, south-west France, at the forthcoming Quiksilver Pro France.

The day rounded off with the Aritz Invitational. Four teams of four surfers, including the likes of Aritz Aranburu and Micky Picon, faced off in a tag team contest. The eventual winners were Txaber Trojaola, Spences Hargraves, Natxo Gonzalez and Asier Muniain.

Tomorrow evening from 9.30pm, the Place Munoa in Zarautz will be rocking to a DJ set with Mahara Mc Kay. A little later on, Spanish band We Are Standard will bring this Quiksilver King of the Groms to a close

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