Eurosurf Juniors, Santa Cruz Portugal 2024
A team of 13 of Scotland’s best young surfers competed with the top European juniors at the European Championships from the 19th to the 26th of July. The team, selected from the Junior Nationals and the Lowlands Longboard competitions, was as follows:
- U18 Girls: Olivia MacKay (NSSC), Robyn Larg (TSC), Beatrix Brown (ASC)
- U18 Boys: Finn Clark (EBSC), Ansel Parkin (BHSC), Ebon Parkin (BHSC)
- U16 Girls: Lola Mitchell (BSC), Callie Cruickshank (BSC), Rosie Moore (BHSC)
- U16 Boys: Charlie Pugh (BHSC), Gabriel Noble (BSC), Sebastian Ballantyne (BSC)
- U18 Girl’s Longboard: Annie Herd (EBSC)
- U18 Boy’s Longboard: Finn Clark (EBSC)
Assisting the team were: Kirsty Parkin, chef/cat-herder/rounders-ninja; manager Marcelle Lockhart; coaching assistant Craig McLachlan; Brendon Ferrier, assistantcoach/fitness and conditioning; Mal Anderson on photo and media duties; and Craig Sutherland as coach.
Thanks to Kings InterHigh for their sponsorship.
We spent a couple of days prior to the competition at the High Performance Centre in Peniche. This was to acclimatise to the Portuguese waves and weather and to prepare the surfers for the competition.
The competition kicked off in Santa Cruz with 17 teams taking part. Up first was the U16 girls on Podium 1 with Callie Cruickshank. She put up a good battle but had to settle for 3rd and went into the repechage. Lola Mitchell earned a solid 2nd place and advanced to Round 2. Rosie Moore did well to find two decent rides in her first international competition for 3rd spot which meant she dropped out of the main round into repechage.
Day 2 of the comp saw Finn Clark and Annie Herd in the longboards. Both surfers are mainly shortboarders but put up a good show but had to settle for 3rd spots and moved into the repechage round.
U16 boys started with Gabe Noble, Charlie Pugh and Sebastian Ballantyne on Podium 2. Dual Podiums meant for tricky logistics for the support crew, but this was essential given the number of competitors and tricky surf conditions. Early morning fog and unsurfable high tides significantly reduced the available running time. Gabe narrowly missed out on 3rd spot but went into the Rep rounds. Charlie surfed well and almost clinched 2nd but would try again in the Reps. Seb gave it his all but had to settle for 4th and joined the Reps.
Day 3 saw all of our shortboarders in action. In the U18 girls, Robyn Larg put on a solid display to earn 2nd and move through to Round 2. Beatrix Brown followed suit with a good display and also moved through in 2nd. Olivia MacKay narrowly missed out on 2nd place but had another go in the reps.
Ebon Parkin had been surfing well but couldn’t quite get the scores he wanted with a 3rd and so onto the reps. Ansel Parkin had a strong heat for a 2nd place and advanced to Round 2. Finn Clark couldn’t quite get enough scores to take him through with a 3rd place but he had another shot in the reps.
Day 4. Robyn had a tough heat in Round 2 but managed a 3rdwhich put her into Rep 2 where she surfed well to advance in 2nd to Rep 3. She was unfortunate to not get through this heat and her competition finished with her adding a sizeable points tally to the team score. Bea had a go at her Round 2 match but had to settle for 4th and moved back to Rep 2 where she had a good single wave score but couldn’t find a quality back up. Her 3rd place finish in Rep 2 also helped gain points for the team. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be for Olivia in her Rep 1 heat where she struggled to find the scores needed but she’ll come back stronger.
In the U18 Round 2, Ansel Parkin put in a good shift but had to settle for 4th and moved back into Rep 2 where he almost progressed but another 4th ended his competition with another decent point haul for team Scotland. Ebon and Finn both received bys into Rep 2. Ebon placed 3rd in his last heat with a couple of decent scores to top up the points and Finn finished 4th as he struggled to find the best waves.
Lola managed a 3rd in her Round 2 U16 heat then had a tough Rep 2 heat where she got decent scores but it wasn’t enough to advance in the competition with a 3rd place. In Rep 1 Callie advanced in 2nd place with some good scores but unfortunately got injured during her Rep 2 heat and had to pull out of the comp – she is always a warrior and will bounce back with many more comps to come. Rosie put up a brave performance. She needed a back up score to advance but has gained valuable experience and will no doubt be back with more confidence.
Gabe had a great Rep 1 heat to finish 2nd and move through to Rep 2 where he finished 4th with respectable scores in a stacked heat. A really good debut for him representing Scotland. Charlie also had a good go at Rep 1 and wasn’t far off advancing. Seb found his waves but couldn’t move above 3rd. Another good effort from the boys.
Day 5 U18 Longboard reps saw Annie play a very smart tactical heat to get 2nd place and advance to Rep 2 where she fought hard for 4th. Finn was learning the longboard skills amazingly well and managed to advance in 2nd and into Rep 2 where he surfed well but couldn’t advance past the longboard heavyweights. A brilliant effort from our (shortboarder) longboarders to increase our point tally.
For the final days of our trip we did some more surf training, including video analysis and mobility work. Even the down-time resulted in some ultra competitive games of rounders and capture the flag. We also watched the top surfers in the finals and were inspired by the high standard of these elite surfers. The closing ceremony DJ kicked off with some comically inappropriate music for a kids comp. Well done to Spain for taking the overall win, with France in 2nd, followed by the Portuguese. The whole Scottish team put in a great effort and finished in 11th place overall. We’re very proud of the team and look forward to working hard for the next events. The level of surfing in the Scottish team improved during and after the competition and if the juniors continue to progress at this rate and bring out these performances in their heats then the team can definitely go even further in future competitions.
- word by Craig Sutherland, Head Junior Coach Scottish Surfing Federation
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