The BiC Challenge - Longboarding's
One-Design World Series - 2003
March 17-28th 2003,Pacasmayo, PERU
3000 year old wavecraft-Los Caballitos de Totora (or reed horse) are used by the local people of Peru for fishing. They paddle the Caballitos out through the whitewater with a piece of bamboo, check their nets then paddle them back into shore surfing the wave to reach the beach, an activity that has prompted some surfing historians to question surfing's true origins.
Although the competitors never had Pacasmayo live up to the reputation it holds, or get the opportunity to surf the famed Chicama. The surf was of a high enough quality to get into the main event last Thursday on the left hand beach break conveniently located right in front of the hotel. Here's the full run down on what happen at this years BiC Challenge final in Peru. The welcome received by the local people of Pacasmayo was wonderful and many of the towns 20,000 people came down every day to see the contest. Last Thursday, the preliminary rounds of main event were run.
Preliminary Rounds:
In super clean, waist high waves breaking for about 300m, the surfers made
the most of the conditions and put on a spectacular show of world class longboarding
for the local people. Goofy-footed Frenchman, Antoine Cardonnet emerged as
one of the clear favourites after the 1st round with long rides and radical
manoeuvres with a superb, traditional style. Other standouts included - the
youngest competitor in the event, 18-year old Taylor Jensen from California
USA. The level was high as the locals got a chance to see a selection of the
world's best longboarders perform at the truly international event. Local
Peruvians Mark Block and Cesar Aspiago surfed very well through the early
rounds but failed to make a place in the top 8. Another unexpected early knock
out was hot Australian goofy footer, Jye Byrnes who surfed superbly well but
his failure to get the minimum wave count during one of his heats ultimately
resulted in his early demise. At the conclusion of the first round, where
every rider had the chance to impress the judges by surfing 3 times, the competition
was whittled down to the top-8 surfers based on a points scoring system. The
lucky guys to make it through included 3 Australians, 3 Europeans 2 Americans.
Round 2, Man-on-man: After 7-days at La Estation Hotel, Pacasymayo
and 3 days left to finish the contest, Day-8 arrived with a slight increase
in the swell and the ¼-finals began at the same break, right in front
of the hotel. In Round 2 the format changed to man-on-man, a welcome
relief to the judges, but which meant sudden death for the losing competitors.
Lose and you are out. In 30-min heats run in the magical waist high perfection
of the Pacasmayo beach break the judging still proved difficult with each
wave coming through exactly the same with almost every surfer riding them
to their full potential. The quarters saw the early stand-out Antoine Cardonnet
go down to Aussie Craig Harvey by just 1 point. Another close heat was Aussie
Dane Wilson over American Taylor Jensen. The rest of the heats were clears
and set up the semi-finals to feature 3 Australians and 1 American. By this
point all surfers had opted to ride the 9'0" over the larger 10'0"
board. In the end the goofy footers prooved their worth in the left handers
and Californian Darren Ledingham pulled away to a clear lead early on in the
final against Aussie Craig Harvey. Ledingham was a late ring in for the event
after a late cancellation from Jimmy Gamboa for the US team. "...
When I heard I had the chance to go I jumped on it. I didn't't have the money
so it was difficult, but I spoke to Donald (Takayama) my shaper and he offered
to lend me the money to buy the ticket. So I really need to say thanks Donald......"
Said Ledingham after his win
Final Results for the 2003 BiC Challenge Final:
|
Individual: |
Best Noserider: |
Leave your Ego at Home- Contest
Gary Elkerton and other top surfers joined forces to help raise money for a local cancer ward . Photos (below) from the Leave your Ego at Home contest - Kawana beach -Mooloolaba, Sunshine Coast, Australia.
|
One of the main crowd pullers of the event was the indominitable Gary Elkerton masters champion and passionate big wave surfer |
Elko leaves his Ego behind but keeps the hat on in keeping with the nature of the event.
|
|
Zane Harrison- colourful personality with water skills to match |
Zane
|
|
Sacha Stocker, another international surfer from Mooloolaba For more photos on Australia - Click Here |
 |
