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Cornwall's up-and-coming surfers progress
by George Mojo
03/07/2007:// One of Cornwall's top up-and-coming surfers could crown their season with wildcard places in two of the world's top pro contests.
Constanine Bay's Donachie is through to the grand finals of the Quiksilver King of the Groms in France.
Gwen Spurlock, from Wales, also clinched a place in Capbreton, alongside some of the finest young rippers on the global stage, by winning their respective divisions in the final UK leg of the tour in Newquay.
The two-day contest at Fistral Beach saw challenging conditions which brought some strong competitive performances from undeterred local groms Donachie, from Constantine Bay and Newquay's Leon Mansfield.
The girl's event was also a tightly-fought contest with Cardiff-based Spurlock, North Devon's Karma Worthington and Holly Donnelly from Newquay charging in the final.
The Quiksilver King of the Groms is a global competition spanning five continents. The British leg will has already brought events to Porthcawl in Wales and Strandhill, in Ireland.
The final in Newquay drew a particularly large entry, with both the under 16s and under 14s classes attracting 48 competitors, compared to a usual 32.
The overall male winner receives an apprentice package that most surfers can only ever dream of: a wildcard enabling him, along with his chaperone, to compete in the trials for two events on the Men's World Championship Tour - the Quiksilver Pro France and the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast, in Australia.
The competition kicked off at Fistral Beach on with consistent surf conditions of between 3ft and 4ft. But as Fistral was pounded with 10ft swells on Day Two, the action moved to Tolcarne Beach where there was a more manageable 5ft surf.
The Under 14s final saw exceptional performances from Leon Mansfield who has won this event 5 times in a row, Matt Chapman, Tom Good and Cavan Donnelly.
However it was Mansfield who came the top at the final hooter.
In the Under 16s final, Donachie, Stuart Campbell, Jack Butler and last year's winner Lewis Clinton fought it out with Donachie impressing the judges to take the overall tour title. It was a great result for the St Merryn surfer who finished runner-up at the event last year.
Contest director Jo Hillman of the British Surfing Association said: "There's a lot more youngsters keen to get involved and compete at a national and international level. It shows real growth in the sport amongst under 16s. We had bigger sets of waves on Sunday which brought about more challenging conditions, and really pushed the competitors."
The event was organised by Newquay pro surfer Spencer Hargraves of Quiksilver UK. The England international attended all three stops on the UK leg of the tour and says the competition is going from strength to strength.
"The weather and conditions were tough but the standard of surfing from the groms was consistently high over the course of the Newquay event. We have some really strong talent here in the UK and there's every chance that either Toby or Gwen could go all the way in this exciting global contest. We wish them both the very best of luck for their heats in France later this year."
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