Thousands of spectators gathered along Bundoran’s Tullan Strand to watch the cream of Europe’s surfers compete for the top spot in each of their divisions. After what has been a very exciting and unpredicitable surfing contest, todays final proved to be no disappointment with Ireland’s Ashleigh Smith coming second in Europe in the womens bodyboarding division.  In the nail biting final Ashleigh was narrowly beaten by Portugal’s Catarina Sousa by a mere 0.07, followed closely by Gemma Harris (Wal). However Ashleigh was still happy to claim Ireland’s only medal in the competition – a silver.

 After putting in a consistent performance throughout Eurosurf 2011 Ben Skinner (Chi) has emerged as winner of the Longboard Competition after dominating his heat

In the surf seniors Pablo Solar (Spn) and Joncour Thomas (Fra) battled it out for first place with Pablo emerging victorious in a impressive display of surfing.

Sarah Beardmore (Eng) won her heat in by a landslide to become the European Ladies Open Champion.  Sarah led from the start, dominating the heat and winning by a 7.0 margin over Leticia Canales (Spn). Disappointly Dejean Marie (Fra) was unable to surf a scorable wave.

 Portuguese Paulo Rodrigues was a worthy winner of the Surf Masters, beating neighbour Dani Garcia (Spn) by almost 3 points, followed by Salvaire Olivier (Fra) and Greg Owen (Wal).

 In the bodyboard open fellow Portuguese country men Manuel Centeno and Hugo Pinheiro fought for pole position with Manuel taking 1^st place and Hugo having to settle for third place, with Guillermo Cobo (Spn) placing second.

Individual medals were awarded to the finalists in each division at Tullan Strand while the overall team prizes were awarded at the contest closing ceremony at the Holyrood Hotel later on Sunday night.

From the very outset of Eurosurf Bundoran France have dominated the competition.  In the opening day they scored 8 out of the best 15 waves of the day and 8 of the top 15 overall scores of the day. France remained the competition leaders throughout the contest only to be over taken by Portugal and Spain on the final day of the contest. Portugal won 3 of the 7 different categories, two 2^nd places, one 3^rd and one 4^th.  The only category in which Portugal did not place was Longboard.  Ireland achieved a very repectable 6^th place overall.

Commenting on the event, Contest Director Eileesh Buckley said “Eurosurf as a whole has been an enormous success.  We couldn’t have asked for better waves all week and the contest overall has been problem-free. We are indebted to our team of volunteers who have ensured the smooth running of the competition all week and have put in many long days over the past week and a half.  We would like to mention our supporters and sponsors at this point too and thank Failte Ireland and Supervalu for their generous support – without whom Eurosurf would not have happened.”

Yet again Bundoran did not disappoint surfers and spectators alike and Tracy Ferguson, Tourism Officer for Bundoran Town Council was keen to agree with this, stating “We are incredibly proud to have hosted the European Surfing Championships in Bundoran – we hope that all 13 nations have had a wonderful time in the Northwest and that internationally that Eurosurf has helped to validate Bundoran and the west coast of Ireland in general as an ideal cold water surfing destination.”

 Shane Smyth Eurosurf Press Officer agrees saying “We’ve been delighted with how the week has gone for Eurosurf – if we were to draw up a blueprint for a surf competition considering waves, weather and organisation we would have nailed it. Conditions were perfect and all the teams really had a great time – let’s hope they spread the word about surfing in Ireland and we see them all back here really soon!”

The ladies Body boarding Repecharge round 4  was possibly the closest contested heat of the entire competition!  Morocco’s Fatima Zahra snatched victory from Gemma Harris (Wal) by a mere 0.03 overall point’s difference.  The ladies will compete again tomorrow against Ashleigh Smith (Ire) and Catarina Sousa (Por) to become the European Body Boarding Champion.

Irish Body Boarder Darragh McCarter has been knocked out of the competition in the semi-finals, leaving Portugal’s Manuel Centeno & Hugo Pinheiro to battle it out with Braihahm Iddouchh (Mor) and Guillermo Cobo (Spn).

Valero Adrien (Fra) and Pablo Gutierrez (Spain) cruised through their heat in the Surf Open and will compete in the grand final tomorrow with Joao Guedes (Por) and Alan Stokes (Eng).

The grand final of all sections of the Eurosurf will be held tomorrow from 12.30pm at Tullan Strand, followed by the medal ceremony on the beach at 4pm.

Ashleigh Smith is Irelands only remaining competitor.  The body boarding final is due to be held at 1.30pm tomorrow and we want as many people as possible to watch her compete waving Irish flags.  So make sure you are all there to Fly the Flag for Ashleigh!

Ben Howarth (Eng) dominated his heat in the longboard competition leaving Josh Le Marquand (Chi), Nick Dowrick (Wal) & Bruno Chameca (Por) to fight for second place.  In the end Bruno was triumphant and the two men will battle it out tomorrow along with Adam Griffiths (Eng) and Deniel Alexis (Fra) for a coveted place in the final.

Also looking to earn a place in the final is Tyrone body boarder Darragh McCarter who will face some stiff competition tomorrow against Jeremy Arnoux (Fra), Braihm Iddouchh (Mor) and Manuel Centeno (Por).

There is an 11am check in tomorrow with the semi-finals and Repecharge for the longboard, ladies Surf, Open body boarding and Open Surf taking place.  All finals will be held on Sunday.

The entertainment programme “Eurosurf Party” and the “Eurosurf Film Festival” both continue until the end of the week with headliners The Undertones playing Paris Nightclub in the town on Saturday night.

Ashleigh Smith in the Ladies Bodyboard division has made her way into the grand final becoming the first of the Irish competitors to have remained in the main heats the whole way through the competition.  Richie will take on the French (Olivier Salvaire), the Welsh (Greg Owen) and the English (Mike Raven).

2 of the 4 final members of the seniors final have already been decided with David Raimundo of Portugal taking on Pablo Solar of Spain – they will be joined by the top 2 surfers from Repercharge in the Seniors divison once that heat has been run off.

In the open bodyboard division local man Darragh McCarter has progressed to the Repercharge 6 round, and in taking on Portugal’s Manuel Centeno will hope to make it to the grand final of the open Bodyboarding.

The entertainment programme “Eurosurf Party” and the “Eurosurf Film Festival” both continue until the end of the week with headliners The Undertones playing Paris Nightclub in the town on Saturday night

Click below for further details:

http://www.bundoransurfco.com/homepage-offer1/surf-co-fundraiser-party-oct-1st/

Speaking at the ceremony, Minister McGinley said “Events such as this provide a tremendous boost to the local community and indeed to the wider hinterland of Bundoran. Up to 20,000 visitors are expected to arrive in Bundoran – both spectators and competitors and the event is expected to generate €3m for the local economy”.

Bethany Hamilton, Pro Surfer assisted European Surfing Federation Acting President Huw John with the traditional “Sands of the Nations” ceremony whereby sand is brought from each of the participating nations and poured into one vessel in “Olympic Spirit”. The “Sands of the Nations” are currently on display in the “Fáilte Room” at the Fáilte Ireland Tourist Office at Bundoran Bridge.

Whilst the surfing conditions have been challenging, Strandhill native Shane Meehan is straight through to the second round after a tough heat in the body boarding division. In the seniors, Portuguese David Raimundo dominated his heat to cruise through to the second round whilst John Britton (IRE) narrowly missed out on second place to Thomas Schmidt (GER) and will fight to continue on in the contest in the Repecharge contest. Should he fail to place 1st or 2nd he will then be eliminated from the competition.

In the surf Masters, Paulo Rodrigues (POR), Greg Owen (Wal), Salvaire Oliver (Fra) and Mike Raven (Eng) all won their heats, with Oliver taking the highest overall points in the masters, 12.33. Local boy Richard Fitzgerald is also through along with Spain’s Dani Garcia, Marc Fessler (Swi) & Jan erik Jenson (Nor).

It has been a tri-nation tussle for the long boarders with England, The Channel Islands and France all claiming two 1st places in the opening rounds, Arauzo Remi (Fra) led his heat from the outset, destroying the competition and becoming the surfer to beat.

The open is currently being led by Portugals Eduardo Fernandes, followed closely by Pablo Gutierrez (Spn), Alan Stokes (Eng), and tied at 15 points Jules Thomet (Fra) and Savalli Hugo (Fra).

The contest will continue until the 2nd October, for live results and full scoring go to www.eurosurfbundoran.com/live

Lead singer with Irish band Royseven Paul Walsh has been revealed as the host of the Gala Screening of SOUL SURFER which will feature a Q&A session with the subject of the movie, Bethany Hamilton.  Paul, a keen surfer himself has recently started hosting “Two Tube” on RTÉ 2 and indeed as part of his presenting duties he will get to interview Bethany for broadcast on the show the following week.

Speaking about the announcement Paul, who is also Team captain on new RTE 2 Television TV show, “SING”, which will broadcast from 26th September,  said “I’m excited to be part of the gala screening of SOUL SURFER and also to meet and interview Bethany Hamilton.  My schedule with Royseven this summer meant that I didn’t get to surf as much as I’d like but it’s something I’m keen to perfect.  I’ll certainly have my board with me this weekend and hope to catch a few of the famous Bundoran waves!”

It will be a busy night for Paul, as later on that night, he will take to the stage at Paris Nightclub with his band Royseven.  Eurosurf Bundoran Press Officer Shane Smyth added “we’re really looking forward to welcoming Paul and Royseven back to Bundoran and are thrilled that he has agreed to host our gala screening – he was the perfect choice for the job, being a TV presenter and also a surfer.  It’ll be a great night for sure”

Saturday 24th September – To kick off the festival we are delighted to have the Irish Gala Screening of SOUL SURFER – the incredible true story of teen surfer Bethany Hamilton, who lost her arm in a shark attack and courageously overcame all odds to become a champion again through her sheer determination.

The release of the movie in Ireland has been specially set to coincide with the European Surfing Championships and goes on release in Ireland and the UK on the same weekend. It was recently confirmed that Bethany herself will also attend the opening ceremony and screening as well as taking part in a Q&A session following the screening.

Film Festival movies will continue throughout the European Surfing Championships nightly at 7pm. The programme is as follows:

Sunday 25th September – Riding Giants – Documentary detailing the origins and history of surf culture. Starring: Laird Hamilton, Darrick Doerner and Dave Kalama.

Monday 26th September – Waveriders – starring Team Ireland rider and Bundoran native Richie Fitzgerald, Gabe Davies and Kelly Slater – “Waveriders is a stirring, brilliant look at the thriving surfing scene off the northwest coast. Within the confines of this meticulously researched work, this burgeoning sub-culture around Bundoran marks a sort of homecoming… Lesser mortals can stand back and marvel at Mr. Conroy’s ability to find a strange uniquely grey poetry in the coldest, cloudiest skies”.Hot Press Review.

Tuesday 27th September – Walls Of Perception – Building on the success of the 2010 release, The Watermen Experience, Oxbow and Poor Boyz Productions team up again for this year’s film. The new production presents seven amazing riders surfing different spots around the world, before bringing them together in one unique place: the Marshall Islands. Starring Matt Meola, Levi Siver, Antoine Delpero, Kai Lenny, Jason Polakow, Duane Desoto and Ian Alldredge. (There will be a personal appearance by Antoine Delpero who is surfing for Team France at Eurosurf)

Wednesday 28th September – BLOW UP- Billabong’s new surf movie directed by Victor Pakpour and produced by Blake Pettit. Starring: Laurie Towner, Creed McTaggart, Granger Larsen, Ian Gentil, Ryan Callinan, Jack Freestone

Eurosurf Movie Festival tickets will be available from Eclipse Cinemas Box Office priced €30 each which will include entry to all festival screenings. Tickets are also available from the Eclipse Cinemas Box Office for each individual screening.

http://www.bundorancineplex.com/