As part of GB Surfing’s strategy to develop and enhance the competitive surfing framework within the UK, earlier in the year we acquired the major hosting rights to the 2023 national championships, The GB Cup.
The event took place at Fistral Beach, Newquay this weekend with the best male and female surfers from England, Scotland, Wales and the Channel Islands competing.
The wintery swell made for testing conditions throughout the weekend, but also produced some incredible performances and was a great representation of the talent we have in the UK.
In the Men’s Open, Arran Strong (England), Patrick Langdon-Dark (Wales), Stanley Norman (England) and Seth Morris (England) set the early pace with +10 scores in the opening round. Pat was arguably the most consistent surfer throughout the weekend with Arran also regularly scoring highly, on contestable waves.
On day two, both Semi-finals went to the wire, with Pat Langdon-Dark in particular leaving it late to leapfrog Max Bennett (Channel Islands), into second place and reach the final. Logan Nicol (Wales) was also unlucky to miss out with Luke Dillon and Stan Norman, joining Pat and Arran Strong in the Men’s final.
In an edgy final, Pat looked to have done enough until a front side full rotation from Stan Norman in the dying minutes produced a 9-point score from the judges, giving him the biggest individual wave score of the competition, the top scoring heat of the competition, and ultimately saw him crowned the new British Champion.
In the Women’s event, Lucy Campbell (England), Ellie Turner (England) and Lauren Sandland (England) were the standout performers on Day One with Georgie May Hicks (England) and Charlotte Mulley (England) also demonstrating their ability in powerful conditions.
On Day Two, Emily Williams (Wales) completed the Semi-final line-up with the above five English surfers. It was however Team England who stormed through with Lucy Campbell narrowly missing out to Charlotte Mulley who had grown into the tournament bettering her score each round.
Lauren Sandland produced the ride and the round of the competition in the Semi-finals, and it was Lauren who took this form into the Final, producing a 12.36 to take the British title for the first time.
There was more success for Surfing England who won the overall GB Cup, capping off a dominant weekend, with five surfers taking part in the two Finals.
Congratulations to Surfing England, and to Stan and Lauren who in winning the event will automatically be selected for GB Surfing’s ISA World Games 2024 team which takes place in Puerto Rico in February. The final team selection, of three men and three women, will take place on 13 December.
Thank you to our suppliers, Castore, O’Neill Eyewear and dryrobe, and to everyone involved in the management and running of the event.
Full Results can be found here.