Bridgetown - Aug 25.
A team of Barbados' junior surfers, in part funded by the Barbados Junior Surfing Club, battled against the heated competition in the Outer Banks of North Carolina at the Rip Curl Grom Search on August 16, 2010. The Grom Search is a series of contests over many regions bringing together the best male and female under 16 surfers from around the world to ultimately find the "best grom" in an international finale.
The Barbados contingent were greeted at Lillian Street in Kitty Hawk by thumping head high beach break. Present to do Barbados and themselves proud were Che Allan and Andrew Rose representing the Under 12s, Josh Galt and Danny Edghill the Under 14 challengers, Under 16 East Coast veteran Jordan Heaselgrave, and our top female surfers Chelsea Roett and Chelsea Tuach. The contestants would be challenged by the conditions with 15 minutes heats starting from the paddle out on the beach, making the selection of quality waves in that short timeframe vital to their success.
At the close of play Barbados' girls would once again make the country proud with Chelsea Tuach in 1st place on the Kitty Hawk podium with 15.5 score total for her best two waves and Chelsea Roett in 2nd place with 12.5 score total. With her win Chelsea Tuach advances to compete in the Grom Search's US final in Puerto Rico in October. Both girls have staked their claim on the US East Coast and have continued their domination at the Ripcurl Grom Search. The Chelseas both advanced directly to the finals with first place finishes in Round One of their division, Chelsea Roett having the day's highest heat score for the girls of 16.16 for her two wave total. Last year roles were reversed with Chelsea Roett as the first place winner in the Rip Curl in New Symrna Beach and Chelsea Tuach placing second. Both advanced to the US finals where Roett finished in overall 3rd place.
New comer to the Rip Curl Grom Search was Danny Edghill, who was a standout performer on the day. Danny brought a complete repertoire of big carves, reverses and airs as he hacked the pounding beachbreak to 2nd place finish in the Under 14 Boys division. Josh Galt also a new comer to the event demonstrated his rapid progress as a competitive surfer with some solid cutbacks and hacks. Despite Galt's equal 17th place finish at this year's event expect to see him on the Rip Curl podium in the very near future.
In the Under 12 Boys division Che Allan would finish equal 5th by advancing straight to semi final one from the day's first heat demonstrating his mature style with solid cutbacks and turns. Also demonstrating his fine form, Andrew Rose slashed the solid beachbreak and would finish equal 13th on the day. Both of these young groms at the event displayed winning form but fell prey to the challenging conditions as the day wore on.
Jordan Heaselgrave would place one of the day's high heat scores of 15.5 in his round one heat of the Under 16 Boys in what the announcers would call the most heated contest of the day. Jordan would show off his repertoire of vertical re-entries and slashes to eliminate the field. Jordan would advance straight to the semi-finals where he finished equal 5th in the division.
A great event was had by all, spectators and competitors alike. The level of surfing in Barbados is progressing at rapid speed and our juniors have shown they can battle against the best at home or abroad. As they continue to expose themselves in international competition expect to see your local names and faces on the surf contest podiums far and afield.
About Us
Our mission is to develop junior surfing in Barbados, assist our members as they learn and progress their skills whilst competing in quality and structured surfing events locally, regionally and internationally. For further information please visit http://www.bdosjuniorsurfing.org/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)