Surfers and spectators enjoyed a weekend of impressive waves and glorious autumn sunshine at Fistral Beach, Newquay for the 2011 BUCS Barefoot Wine Surf Championships. The competition was an outstanding success with record number of surfers taking part and representing Universities from across the UK. The competition is thought to be the biggest surfing competition in the world with over 366 competitors taking part over three days.

Day one of the competition saw all surfers taking to the water for the first rounds of the men’s and women’s heats, with the top two in each heat progressing to the next day of competition. Surfers were greeted with blue skies and sunshine on Saturday and spectators watched as the competitors some skilful displays in the water impressing the judges, whilst the Red Bull live DJ provided a soundtrack that set the mood and entertained the crowd.

Sunday was finals day, with the men’s and women’s knock out stages taking place with more great wave conditions in the water, giving competitors plenty of opportunity to gain judging points to progress to the final.

The men’s final saw defending champion Gordon Fontaine (Bournemouth University) battle it out with Plymouth University trio Matt Rodwell, Sam Coad and Jonathan Waugh. However Fontaine, who is currently leading the UK Pro Tour, saved his best performance for the final, taking a near-perfect score from the judges and taking home the men’s trophy. 

Newquay resident Holly Donnelly (Plymouth University) also impressed, beating off fierce competition in the women’s final from Rosie Ellis (2nd), Jenny Bryant (3rd) and Jen Head (4th) to clinch the women’s trophy.
In the team events, Plymouth University took home both the men’s trophy and women’s trophy.

The 2011 BUCS Barefoot Wine Championships was sponsored for the first time by Barefoot Wine who offered students the opportunity to sample a selection of their wines, win Barefoot goodies as well as providing the winners with prizes. The event was also supported by Red Bull and Kukri alongside Outgoing, Surfers against Sewage and the RNLI.

BUCS Surfing Sports Manager Ed Curran said “The 2011 BUCS Barefoot Wine Championships were once again a huge success, with the best weather and wave conditions of any UK surf event this year. Congratulations to Gordon and Holly, who had to pull off some amazing performances in the finals, such was the standard of the competition.  The BUCS Barefoot Wine Championships is a vibrant part of the BUCS sporting calendar and we intend to continue to grow the event in the future.  Thanks must go to Barefoot Wines for their support and entertainment on the beach, we look forward to working with them on the event in the future.”

Results

Men’s - Individual rankings
Gordon Fontaine (1st) – Bournemouth University
Jonathan Waugh (2nd) – Plymouth University
Matt Rodwell (3rd) – Plymouth University
Sam Coad (4th) – Plymouth University

Women’s - Individual rankings
Holly Donnelly (1st) – Plymouth University
Rosie Ellis (2nd) – University of Exeter
Jenny Bryant (3rd) - University of Exeter
Jen Head (4th) – Plymouth University

Team – Men’s
Plymouth University– 1st
University College Falmouth - 2nd
UWIC – 3rd

Team – Women’s
Plymouth University – 1st
University of Exeter – 2nd
Cardiff University – 3rd

Please click here to download the Full Individual Results
Please click here to download the Full Team Results