Aug 02 2008 10:35 am,
The first English Surfing Federation Inter-company Surf Battle hit Fistral Beach on one of the most sizzling days of the summer an array of the country's hottest surf talent turned out to do their bit to help support the English Junior Team 2008. Fourteen surf teams and four bodyboarding teams took to the water throughout the afternoon and evening as England's top surf brands fought it out with surf schools, surfing governing bodies, surf magazines, surf lodges and related companies to become the first ESF Inter-company champions. A triumphant tag team from surf brand Gul emerged victorious and over 3,000 pounds was raised from the day to go towards the required 10,000 pounds to send to team to the European Championships in Morocco this coming November.
In the early rounds, the contest was extremely relaxed with a really fun vibe however as the teams made their way into the semis and final, the competitive spirits appeared and the bar was raised. A number of standout performances from Russell Winter, Mark 'Egor' Harris, Mike Young and Krisha sowinski kept competitors and spectators gripped til the final horn. However Russ Winter's double whammy 9.5 and Egor's 7.5 ensured that Gul took the first ever ESF Inter-company title with Escape Surf School coming second, the British Surfing Association team in third place and North Shore Surf Shop taking fourth.
Following the contest hundreds of members of the surf community made their way to the new home of the Rip Curl ESF Surf School, the Carnmarth Hotel, where a BBQ and top DJs kept everyone going before Bradley Start opened up the ESF Junior Surf Team Fund Auction. Some fierce bidding on items such as flights from Air SouthWest, surfboards from Rip Curl . Clayton and Red Stripe, 2 days of Carpentry work from A.J. Dillon and a Lush Longboard donated by youngster Harry Timson saw over 1500 pounds being raised for the cause. The event was sponsored by the C-Bar and Newquay Cornwall Airport and the Newquay Guardian, Acorn Properties and Wavelength magazine have also all stepped forward to offer an extremely generous 500 pounds to sponsor one of the surfers within the team. With the team fees, raffle, auction and the sponsorships, the 4000 pounds has already gone a large amount of the way to securing the total funding needed for the team trip.
Rob Barber of the ESF Surf School says, "Similar team fundraisers and inter- industry contests have regularly taken place in Australia and America but this will be the first time that this type of competition has happened here and it was a massive success. It was such a brilliant day for it all and it was amazing to see a whole host of the country's top surfers out in force and in the waves and the competition really got everyone going."
Rob continues, "We had an extremely generous response to our call for auction and raffle items and on behalf of all of the youngsters in the team I'd like to thank Rip Curl, the C-Bar, Newquay Airport, Acorn, The Newquay Guardian, and Wavelength for the sponsorships which will go a long way to helping get the team there. I'd also like to thank every single contributor for their generous donations and all the spectators and surfers who came along to bid and support the ESF and its 2008 team."
Companies who contributed are: Rip Curl, Yoshimi, Fistral Blu, A J Dillon Carpentry Contractors, Flavour Skate Shop, Carphone Warehouse, Estpix Photography, Cult, Etnies, Ignite, Eden Project, Gul, Newquay's Finest, Cornwall's Coolest, Ben Jones Photography, Reef, Lusty Glaze, Air Southwest, Prego Prego, Wavelength, Lush Longboards, Fluid Juice Surf Boards, Billabong, Hurley, Fistral Spa, Robbie Westcombe Promotions, Alder, Hybrid Clothing, Timmy Boydell Electrical Contractors, Overhead Surf, Carve Magazine and young Harry Timson
