On the weekend of the 7/8 October, Newquay Boardriders held its first ever combined Memorial Surfing Competition.
The committee had discussed bringing all of the individual Memorial Competitions under one umbrella to celebrate the lives of the young souls of our close knit surfing community that have been lost over the years. After consulting with all of the bereaved families, it soon became apparent that everybody was 100% behind the idea. So the Newquay Boardriders Memorial Weekend was born.
We were surfing for and remembering 8 lives lost tragically over the last 34 years and decided each category be designated to an appropriate age group where possible. These were as follows.
TOBY SORE U16’s
RYAN VEALE U18’s
AVA PERRY U18 Girls
ANTON HAWKINS U21’s
RANDALL DAVIES Open men
JOHNNY “BOY” HOLMES. Open women.
ADAM “SPIKE” GOOD. Over 40’s.
DAVE GENT. NBR event choice award.
With so many catagories and an overwhelming entry list it was set to be a busy, packed weekend of surfing from first light till sunset on both days.
We were set to go, contest green lighted for Saturday 7th October 8am check in and first heat in the water at 8-30am.
The eight souls we were remembering had definitely got together somehow and decided to make this weekend beyond special. On arrival Saturday morning the sun shone like a perfect summers day 24 degrees wall to wall sunshine and the most incredible 4-5ft perfect surf.
This weekend had attracted an unprecedented amount of entrants with over 80 top level competitors and the standard of surfing on display was phenomenal throughout the event.
Current English and British women’s open champion Lauren “Lolly” Sandland dominated the female categories and ended up taking first place in both the women’s open (Johnny “Boy” Holmes) category and the under 18 girls (Ava Perry) category proving to be one of NBRs greatest talents.
In the under 21s (Anton Hawkins) category, local boys, Levi Lancefield and Sol Hawkins put on an excellent display of precision surfing, but couldn’t quite find the excellent scores required to take down Jowan Pegg and the eventual winner of this category, Max Hudson in a closely fought final.
The largest amount of entrants for this event was in the over 40’s Adam “Spike” Good category with one surfer coming from as far away as Australia to compete, as well as some Brighton boys, surfing for their lost friend Spike. Huge scores were posted from some of our older elite surfers and the whole beach at North Fistral was cheering at some of the moves these older bodies were throwing down. Chris Owen struggled to find his rhythm in the final on the peaky North Fistral banks and took fourth place in a closely fought battle. Brad Rochefort walked away with third place and crowd favourite Joe “Morag” Moran took second, which left an absolutely in form Gareth “Gadge” Llewellyn taking the win in front of a huge crowd.
However, the standout performance of the weekend went to England Junior Team member 16 year old Fynn Gillespie surfing, and progressing through round after round in multiple categories showcasing his explosive surfing style and eventually walking away with three titles, Toby Sore under 16s, Ryan Veale under 18s, and the Randall Davies Open Men’s category with a combined total of 18 points out of a possible 20 in the open final.
As the action on the beach began to wind down, and the sun began to set everybody’s attention, was turning to the presentation, which was to be held at the Oceanside hotel on Headland Road. The excitement among the competitors was growing as they eagerly awaited the final results.
As the function room at the Ocean Side began to fill once again it became apparent that nobody that attended the event was about to miss the most memorable of evenings. Billy Hatfield from the Oceanside had kindly put on a complementary chilli and rice meal for everyone attending to enjoy and judging by the amount of clean plates, enjoy they did.
Once everyone had eaten and grabbed some refreshments from the bar it was time for the evening’s formal proceedings to begin.
Gary “GAZZER” Collins (club vice chairman) was first to take to the stage to individually thank each and every helper that had made this event the best ever that Newquay Boardriders had put together in the club’s history.
Gazzer then handed over to club chairman, Eddie Wilson to announce the winners. Before The announcements were made Eddie called for everybody present to cheer and make some noise so the lost souls could hear us from above, the room exploded with a cacophony of noise that went on it seems for ever.
4111_U16_ Boys (Toby Sale)
Left to Right : Jensen Martin 4th, Harvey Waters 3rd, Heath Gillespie 2nd, Fynn Gillespie 1st.
4116_U18_Girls (Ava Perry)
Left to Right : Lilly Isseberner 4th, Willow Smith 3rd, Eva Blackford 2nd, Lauren Sandland 1st. (Presented by Isla Coombes & Bella Llewellyn – far left).
4122_U18_Boys (Ryan Veale)
Left to Right : Heath Gillespie 4th, Gabe Llewellyn 3rd, Malakie Hagley 2nd (not shown), Fynn Gillespie 1st.
4127_U21_Mens (Anton Hawkins) – Presented by Sharna Hawkins (Anton’s father)
Left to Right : Levi Lancefield 4th, Sol Hawkins 3rd, Jowan Pegg 2nd, Max Hudson 1st.
4136_Womens_Open (Johnny ‘Boy’ Holmes)
Left to Right : Flora Morgan 4th, Eva Blackford 3rd, Willow Smith 2nd, Lauren Sanford 1st.
4137_NBR_Choice (standout wave of the weekend)
Bella Llewellyn
4140_NBR_Choice_Rescue (abandoned his heat in order to assist the rescue of a fellow competitor)
Ruan McKune
4146_Water_Safety_Rescue (Dave Gent Water Safety Award – presented by Caroline Gent-Ansell)
Finn Collins
4154_Luke_Hart_Award – U18 Expression Session. (A custom shaped surfboard from 4th Surfboards)
Ruan McKune
4164_Mens_Open (Randall Davies – presented by Jaydene Davies)
Left to Right : Sam Harwood 2nd, Jowan Pegg 3rd, Fynn Gillespie 1st, Tom Butler 4th.
4217_Over_40s (Adam Good ’Spike’ – presented by Tom Good, far left)
Left to Right : Gareth Llewellyn 1st, Brad Rochfort 3rd, Chris Owen 4th, Joe Moran 2nd.
Once everybody had settled it was time for the raffle which had very kindly been organised by club members Jess and Joe Bearman. As the evening then continued and many of the relatives who had lost family members began to socialise and find common ground it was clear to all that everybody who helped, entered or attended this event was a winner. Newquay Boardriders would like to give a massive shout out to all that got behind and sponsored this event. Just like the souls we were surfing for this weekend will never be forgotten.
Finally, Newquay Boardriders would like to thank the following sponsors, Rip Curl, Fourth Surfboards, Flavour Skate Shop, Skindog Surfboards, Volcom, Monster Energy, Hurley, Carve, SurfGirl, Sunbum, Globe, Yallah Coffee, Northshore, Surfing Life, Kooks, Women And Waves and Stance.
