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King of the Groms 2007 The King of the Grom 2007 held in Newquay from June the 30th until July the 1st was a total success. The wet weather failed to dampen the spirits of Britain’s most promising young surfers competing at the prestigious Quiksilver event for the youngest. The two-day contest saw challenging conditions which brought some strong competitive performances from undeterred local groms Toby Donachie and Leon Mansfield, who has won the Under 14s category for five years running. The girl’s event was also a tightly-fought contest with Cardiff’s Gwen Spurlock, North Devon’s Karma Worthington and Holly Donnelly from Newquay charging in the final. The Quiksilver King of the Groms is a global competition spanning five continents. The British leg has already brought events to Porthcawl in Wales on the 26th –27th May and in Ireland at Strand Hill on the 23rd-24th June. This weekend’s final in Newquay drew a particularly large entry, with both the under 16s and under 14s classes attracting 48 competitors, compared to a usual 32. Each grom was battling it out in the waves with the hope of winning a coveted place in the grand final in Capbreton, South West France. The overall male winner receives an apprentice package that most surfers can only ever dream of: a wildcard enabling him, along with his chaperone, to compete in the trials for two events on the Men's World Championship Tour: the Quiksilver Pro France 2006 and the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast 2007 –Australia-. Groms traveled to Newquay from across the country, with strong entry from Bournemouth and Wales. The competition kicked off at Fistral Beach on Saturday, with consistent conditions of between 3ft and 4ft. But as Fistral was pounded with 10ft swells on Sunday, the action moved to Tolcarne Beach where there was more manageable 5ft surf. The Under 14s final saw exceptional performances from Leon Mansfield, Matt Chapman, Tom Good and Cavan Donnelly however it was Leon who came the top of the crop. In the Under 16s Toby Donachie, Stuart Campbell, Jack Butler and last year’s winner Lewis Clinton fought it out. Toby Donachie impressed the judges however to take the overall tour stop title. Contest director Jo Hillman of the British Surfing Association said: “There’s a lot more youngsters keen to get involved and compete at a national and international level. It shows real growth in the sport amongst under 16s. We had bigger sets of waves on Sunday which brought about more challenging conditions, and really pushed the competitors.” Spencer Hargraves of Quiksilver UK said: “The weather and conditions were tough this weekend but the standard of surfing from the groms was consistently high over the course of the whole two days. We have some really strong talent here in the UK and there’s every chance that either Toby or Gwen could go all the way in this exciting global contest. We wish them both the very best of luck for their heats in France later this year.” Results: Girls Under 14 Under 16 |
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