Scottish Junior Series Event #3 – Pease Bay
The junior community gathered once again this weekend for stop 3 of the 2024 Junior Series. With a tricky forecast to work with, the organising crew met at 0730 on Saturday at Pease Bay and soon realising that a change of plan was required. So, with the swell being more South Easterly, the decision was made to up sticks and move to Coldingham, the first time an event like this had been held there.
With the tide ebbing and pulses coming though, (which local knowledge informed would only increase in intensity up to just before High Water) we started the day with the Under 12’s semi final, and then, after the quarter final heats of the informal Under 18 Open were completed, the Under 10’s were the first in the water. Although the Under 10’s are not formally part of the Junior Series, at each Stop if there is a demand to hold this category then generally, we try and get the micro groms in the water and competing. At Coldingham it was the turn of Asher Noble and Finn Morgan to see who could perform the best in front of the judges, with Finn coming out on top after some good waves being caught by both
Under 12’s were in next with Kai Cruickshank, Reuben Milbourne, Rae Hood and Dylan Whaley competing in the final. Lots of waves were getting caught and ultimately Kai ended up the clear winner with the two top waves 3.67 and 3.5 giving him a commanding victory.
In the Under 14 boys we had a bumper entry, and so after the quarters and the semi’s we eventually ended up with a final four of Rudi Johnston-Forrest, Gabriel Noble, Sebastian Ballantyne and Joel Christopherson. This heat coincided with the best conditions of the day and these boys took the opportunity to show everyone on the beach exactly how good they all are. Gabe and Sebastian streaked ahead with both of them recording a wave score of 6 or above, with applause and whoops coming from the audience. Gabe eventually took the win with a heat total of 10.97, with Sebastian just behind with 10.83. Rudy took third with Joel in 4th.
In the girls category the final 4 were Callie Cruickshank, Rosie Moore, Fariaid Winterton and Freya Pilarska. Callie came out of the blocks quickly with a first score of 4.83, with Rosie’s first score of 3.67 keeping her close behind. That order remained to the end, with Callie taking the win, Rosie in second, Faraid in 3rd and Freya (with the significant handicap of having to surf with a fin and fin box missing from her board, after a ding in the previous round) in 4th
Onto the Under 16’s and 18’s with a reduced field meaning that all categories were straight finals. Some good waves were still rolling in, albeit with the sets reducing in size, frequency and consistency. Still, some good scores were achieved, with some standout performances from Tam Hood in the Under 16 boys, Finn Clark in the Under 18 boys, Bea Brown in the Under 18 girls and Lola Mitchell in the Under 16 girls.
Final results:
Under 16 Girls – 1st Lola Mitchell, 2nd Sylie Christopherson
Under 16 Boys – 1st Tam Hood, 2nd Charlie Pugh, 3rd Ansel Parkin, 4th Lewis Batty, 5th Finlay Macleod
Under 18 Girls – 1st Bea Brown, 2nd Olivia Mackay, 3rd Athena Sintoris
Under 18 Boys – 1st Finn Clark, 2nd Ebon Parkin.
Special thanks needs to be given to the judges and officials who made the event possible, The RNLI Beach Lifeguards at Coldingham, Vision Events and Verdant Leisure for their willingness to support the event had it been held at Pease Bay (and for still providing the officials with lunch even though the event ended up being somewhere else – THANK YOU). Also, thanks to Steve at St Veda’s Surf Shop, the team at the Beach Café and all the normal users of the beach for their understanding, as this event landed on their beach with limited notice: Hopefully they all enjoyed the spectacle we put on!
Final thanks must go to Series sponsors C-Skins and Robie Robes, and the wonderful people at Finisterre for providing some great prizes for this comp.
The comp ended with a social down at Belhaven Surf Centre in Dunbar, the home of joint host club Belhaven Surf Club, with food and drinks on offer as well as a raffle for “prizes money can’t buy” (that is, unless you go to Coast2Coast Surf School in Dunbar or the Finisterre Shop on George Street in Edinburgh) – Thank you guys.
Series Leaderboards after Stop 3
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