FULL BRITISH TEAM WILL COMPETE IN PORTUGAL

Press release sent on 22 September, 2008
Source: British Surfing Association - www.britsurf.co.uk-

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

Today the British Surfing Association has announced the names of the British Surf Team 2008 members who have earned themselves prestigious places representing their country at the event, which is widely regarded as surfing’s equivalent to the Olympic Games.

The International Surfing Association’s World Surfing Games will take place at Costa de Caparica, Portugal from October 11th – 19th.  British hopes are high as a result of an extremely credible placing in California in the 2006 games. 

Twelve surfers from across Cornwall, Devon, Jersey and Wales have been honoured to be selected by the British Surfing Association for the British Surfing Team for the 2008  ISA World Surfing Championships, which will see athletes coming from every continent on the planet.

The British team will join the surf ‘power brokers’ such as Australia, USA, and South Africa alongside emerging nations including Israel and Costa Rica.

Sponsored by Brittany Ferries, the British Surf Team will now undergo an intensive training schedule to ensure they are fully fit and prepared for the Championships.  They have all proven themselves on the annual contest circuit and a number of them have competed in the World and European teams in the past. 

They will be supported in Portugal by some of the best British coaches and managers who have also been specially selected to represent their country.  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 a 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 and, in the Bodyboard team, the English and British bodyboarding champion Damien Prisk from Camborne will join local colleagues 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 World Surfing Games in Portugal. Andy Sturt, Regional Surf Development Coach said, “To be selected for the team for the 2008 ISA 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 says, “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 continues, “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 and we’re looking forward to seeing them all in the water, and hopefully on the podium, representing our surfing nation.”

About International Surfing Association
The International Surfing Association (ISA) is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the World Governing Authority for surfing, bodyboarding and surfriding. It was originally founded as the International Surfing Federation in 1964 and has been running world championships since 1964 and the Junior World Championships since 1980. 

ISA membership includes the surfing National Governing Bodies (NGBs) of over 50 countries on six continents. Its headquarters are located in San Diego, California. It is presided by Fernando Aguerre, first elected in 1994 in Rio, and re-elected six times since.  The ISA's four Vice Presidents are Alan Atkins (Australia), Robin de Kock (South Africa), Maile Aguerre (Hawaii) and Mike Gerard (USA).

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