Jesus Surf Classic 2005

As the UK's best surfers gathered for the annual Jesus Surf Classic contest at Croyde in North Devon, Kernowyouth sent Phil Hadley to savour the action. Here's his account and his pictures...

Arriving in torrential rain on the Saturday morning, I found 160 surfers gathered at Croyde for one of the UK's biggest surf contests. The event, now in its 13th year, is organised by Christian Surfers UK.

Despite predictions of poor surf, conditions were in the 1-3ft range, and improved as the day wore on. Although this is a keenly fought contest, there is also a festival atmosphere about the site, with a marquee serving refreshments, surf videos playing on a big screen, an all day barbeque and a DJ mixing music with contest announcements and results. A band of over 100 Christian Surfers volunteers from all over the Uk made sure the event ran smoothly and on schedule.

With 10 surfing categories and over £2000 prize money up for grabs, competition over the weekend proved extremely high. Bude's Joss Ash, previous winner in 2002 and 2003, beat younger brother Reubyn in the coveted open division. Joss is pictured left receiving his trophy (Photo supplied by CSUK). Last year's winner, Andrew Griffin from Cubert, was third - beating Johnny Fryer from the Isle of Wight into fourth in an incredibly exciting heat.

North Devon surfer Eddie Knight took the junior title with Jayce Robinson from St Ives in second and Connor Spears of Braunton third. Newquay's Tom Butler came an impressive fourth.

Jayce Robinson improved on last year's third to take the Cadet title beating Stuart Campbell. Stuart again took the runner up spot in the Youth category, this time being pipped by Lewis Clinton.

North Devon's Ben Haworth won the Longboard contest ahead of Eliot Dudley, while Sarah Bentley won the women's title for the first time. She beat Beth Mason who won the trophy for the highest placed under 18. Joanna Ulczak was third and Zoe Parsons fourth.

Roger Knight retained his Masters title while Steve Harvey won the Over 35 division. Pete Oram, returning to competition surfing after 20 years came fourth in the Masters.

The bodyboard competition was again keenly contested with Alex Winkworth winning the Open title ahead of Steve Wright, Eddie Read and Andrew Hardwick. With a great performance Alex also took the Junior title ahead of Eddie Read, and Joe Hone took the Cadet title.

There is also a skate park with various events hosted by Phil Pechonis, a local minister at Calvary Chapel and organiser of the CreationFest festival. A Big Move contest was held on the Saturday and was a big draw for spectators and competitors alike.

Despite a couple of accidents, a surfing neck injury airlifted from the beach on Saturday morning and a broken arm on the skate ramps on Saturday afternoon, the weekend was a great success, adding to the reputation of the organisers for hosting major events. Saturday's injured surfer was back in the water again on the Sunday, and the skater's arm is progressing fine.

During the weekend there was a focus on Tsunami Surf relief UK, who continue to raise funds for the Tsunami affected areas in Sri Lanka. JC Surfboards Hawaii (John Carper) very generously donated a board for raffling, which raised around £371. Ironically, the person who won the board was riding near perfect 6ft Croyde on Tuesday morning when he snapped his original board; he was stoked therefore that his replacement had already arrived!!

For more details on Christian Surfers UK check out their website www.christiansurfers.org

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