Team for World Surfing Games announced (From Falmouth Packet)

Team for World Surfing Games announced

9:00am Saturday 27th September 2008

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The 2008 British surfing team selected to represent the country at the World Surfing Games in Portugal has been announced.

With the success of Ben Skinner in the 2006 world surfing games in California, 2008 could see the country’s national surf team consolidate Britain’s presence as a key surfing nation at the contest at Portugal’s Costa de Caparica.

On September 22 the British Surfing Association announced the names of the members who have earned themselves prestigious places at the event, regarded as surfing’s equivalent to the Olympic Games.

The games will take place at Costa de Caparica, Portugal from October 11 to 19 and over 350 competitors from 35 nations fight it out in the water to take home the glory. British hopes are high as a result of a very credible placing in California in the 2006 games.

Twelve surfers from across Cornwall, Devon, Jersey and Wales have been selected to compete against athletes coming from every continent on the planet.

The British team will join more than 35 other countries including the dominant nations of Australia, USA, South Africa, and Hawaii alongside emerging nations including Israel, Morocco and Costa Rica.

The team will now undergo an intensive training schedule to ensure they are fully fit and prepared.

Andy Stuart, regional surf development coach said: “To be selected for the team for the world surfing championships is one of the highlights of these surfers’ careers thus far and illustrates their talent and dedication to the sport.

“This event is the equivalent of the surfing Olympics and throughout the games, our British athletes will be pushed to their very max, to drive themselves to the absolute top of their form to represent their nation on this prestigious global platform and illustrate just what we can do.

“Our previous years’ success and training and development programme has ensured that we have all been working together as a team for some time now and we’re looking to beat our last results and ensure that we see this British team prove themselves within the global top ten.”

National director of the British Surfing Association, Karen Walton said: “Now that the team has been confirmed, the BSA will be running an ongoing pre-event training programme to ensure that each and every surfer is at the very top of their game and their highest possible fitness levels.

“We took the ninth spot and a silver medal two years ago and will be doing all possible to up that placing even further this time around.”

Karen added: “With only a couple of weeks to go, the team coaches and managers will be working closely with all of the team to ensure that they are physically and psychologically ready for the championships. We are looking forward to seeing them all in the water, and hopefully on the podium.”

Unlike standard professional events, the surfers will compete in national team format. This format is unique in world surfing and the surfers will be competing solely for the honour of representing their nation and bringing home gold, silver, bronze or copper medals.

Talented and popular silver medallist Ben Skinner will be representing Britain again in the longboard category and hopes are high for him to surpass his 2006 silver medal and return home with gold in 2008.

In the open category Mark Harris and Alan Stokes from Newquay will join Reubyn Ash from Bude and Micah Lester from Constantine to battle it out for their country. The woman’s team will see a combination of Swansea’s Beth Mason and Jo Dennison from Pembrokeshire carrying the British flag.

In the bodyboard team the English and British champion Damien Prisk from Camborne will join local colleague Alex Winkworth and four times British champion and multiple Welsh Champion Gemma Harris, who will represent the British women.

Well known female surfer from Newquay Joanne Hillman has also been specially selected once again to be a female judge for this year’s games.

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