British Junior Surfing Champs

Liam ripping it up at Fistral yesterday

And so it was that down at Fistral yesterday the finals of the British Championships were held in 2-3ft surf. And we had a full compliment of Surf's Up! Elite riders right in the mix.

Saturday had seen the progression of all our riders through the heat stages and into the semis. Including Rhys, who is developing this habit of falling just short in his own age category, but excelling two age groups above!

Toby gets a score under his belt in the under 18s final

Under 12s final - Max and Liam paddled out in tricky onshore conditions. It was very surfable but difficult to pick off the waves. Harry de Roth, their number one rival for top spot got in a fantastic wave right at the off and established a good lead. Both Max and Liam had their moments, but it was Harry who took the title. No complaints. Liam got 2nd and Max 3rd.

Max on his way to third in the under 12s

Under 14s final - pretty much the same line up paddled out for the second final. But this time it was Liam who nailed an early high scoring wave - right up in the 7's. And again, establishing an early lead was to prove the winning tactic. To his credit he surfed so well. And fully deserved his new title as British Champ - not bad considering he's got another two years in this division.! Max busted out a few moves but didn't get the length of rides he needed to put him on the podium. He also will compete again next year in this age group.

The standard of surfing in the under 18s final was top draw. Here's Toby trying his best to chase down a win

In the girls under 18's we had Gabi. Gabi won the Heat of Death in the semis ie the one with all the favourites to win the title. As fantastic as that was it meant that she was the one to beat. I have no idea what happened, but the final just didn't work out for her.

Gabi storms to victory in the hardest draw of the semi - finals

She just couldn't find herself any decent waves. Each heat lasts only 20 minutes - if you're behind at the halfway mark that doesn't leave you long to get a couple of good ones in. Gutted for her - she really wanted to win the title and she was definitely good enough. That's just the way it goes sometimes. She'll be back.

Liam - the new under 14s British Champ

In the final of the Under 18 boys (these are not really boys) we had Toby. This level of surfing is so exciting and with high tide approaching the beach stood still as the competitors went about their work. Toby was first to put a good score down, and followed up with a fantastic second wave. It would take something special to knock the defending champion off top spot. I think the judging throughout the day was pretty good, but there would be a slight raising of eyebrows on this one. Luke Dillon, who'd just won the under 16's put in a couple of good rides, but to everyone's surprise, at the half way stage the news was announced over the PA that he'd gone into the lead? It was a lead that he was to hold onto, despite Toby's best efforts. Again, that's just the way it goes. It was tight and it didn't fall his way. Congratulations to Luke - who's performance in the under 16s final was probably the best surfing demonstration of the day.

Toby prepares for his under 18s final with a bit of quiet time.

Other results - Liam and Rhys made it to the semis of the under 16s (two age groups above), a brilliant achievement and to be fair they nearly got through. And Sophie, so good to see her back competing, got through to the semis of the under 18 girls.

It was a great day for the club. It was perhaps a day of what might have been. The title Liam got was probably the one we could least have expected at the start of the day. But the good thing is that our riders are right in there and given a fairer wind we could have walked away with any number of titles. As a team, our riders completely dominated - no other club came close to our strength in depth. And we're really proud of that.