Roxy ASP Women’s World Longboard Championship (WWLC) presented by Evian
Côte des Basques, Biarritz, France
July 3-9, 2006
BIARRITZ, France (Monday, July 3, 2006) The first two rounds of the Roxy ASP Womens World Longboard Championship (WWLC) presented by Evian ran in half to one meter (two to three foot) waves at Côte des Basques, Biarritz, on Frances southwest coast today.Preliminary rounds of the inaugural event whittled the field of 60-plus surfers to 48, with todays winners joining the seeded surfers in round three.
Contest director Marc Sarran will assess the swell, tide and wind daily to capitalize on the best conditions available during the remaining six-day competition window, with three days needed to complete the event due to radical tidal differences.
American Schuyler McFerran, 19, claimed the days highest wave score, a 9.00 (out of 10), in winning her round one heat against Margaret Yao (USA) and Grace Davies (GBR).
I was shocked, McFerran, who hails from Encinitas, California, said. Somehow I found an open-faced wave, got to the nose a couple of times, did a floater and milked it for all it was worth. The judges liked it so Im stoked.
I love longboarding. I think its a beautiful, graceful sport. Im proud to be a longboarder and really happy to be competing here in Biarritz because womens longboarding is finally receiving some backing and we have a world title now. Im really stoked to be here and want to go as far as I can.
McFerran, who went on to win her round two heat as well, will now meet Claire Karabatsos (FRA),
Mary Bagalso (USA) and Carmel McGrath (USA) in round three.
Japanese-born Hawaiian surfer Miku Uemura, 22, also positioned herself strongly heading into the seeded rounds. Making the most of tricky conditions and racking up two of the days highest heat totals in the process, Uemura used her competitive-surfing savvy to easily advance through the preliminary rounds.
The waves are really hard to catch, you have to be lucky enough to find an open face. Its not a long wall and the wave has been breaking late so Ive been hitting it and doing floaters something Im good at because Im not really good at noseriding, Uemura said.
Uemura, who said she has spent very little time on a longboard in the past four years because shes been competing on the Japanese shortboard circuit, looked right at home today and is eager to round out her wave-riding repertoire with a solid result at the Roxy ASP WWLC.
Ive been waiting for a contest like this. When the Roxy Japan sales rep told me about it I was so excited. I was like, Really! Yeah, yeah, I want to go! I was so happy. I think all of the shortboard competition experience Ive had is helping me a lot. Competition is all a big game and Ive been playing it for the last three years, so I think that will help for sure.
Also catching the crowds attention was 46-year-old paraplegic surfer Angela Madsen (USA) who was so eager to be involved in the first-ever Roxy ASP WWLC that she entered the competition despite there not being a separate division for surfers with a disability.
I signed up to compete in a surfing expression session for disabled surfers last year, but when that was cancelled and I heard about this contest I decided to sign up for the competition anyway, just to be a part of it and get out there, Madsen said.
I always try to convince people with disabilities to get more involved, and this is another case of if you build it they will come. If surfing events actually made a place for surfers with disabilities and people were encouraged to get out there and improve their quality of life through sport and surfing, Im sure many more women would become involved.
The Roxy ASP WWLC will run in conjunction with the Roxy Jam Biarritz, a summer surf festival designed to celebrate the female surf lifestyle. Live music, art exhibitions and philanthropic activities will bolster Biarritzs already contagious surf vibe during the week-long event. Tonights entertainment will feature among others, Lee Ann Curren daughter of three-time world champion Tom Curren.
ROXY ASP WWLC RESULTS
ROUND OF 72 (1st and 2nd advance to ROUND OF 60, 3rd = 61st place, 4th = 67th place)
HEAT 1: Miku Uemura (HAW) 14.50, Noelle Rogers (USA) 10.00, Jenny McCarthy (AUS) 9.15, Cat Slatinsky (USA) 8.15
HEAT 2: Gaelle Szymkowiak (FRA) 7.00, Robin Hesson (USA) 4.00, Angela Madsen (USA) 0.70
HEAT 3: Candice ODonnell (AUS) 6.30, Sormarie Nieves (USA) 5.85, Kaoru Naito (JPN) 4.00
HEAT 4: Coline Menard (FRA) 9.40, Emma Fitzhenry (GBR) 7.25, Erin Lewis (USA) 6.10
HEAT 5: Schuyler McFerran (USA) 14.00, Margaret Yao (USA) 7.90, Grace Davies (GBR) 7.75
HEAT 6: Hanalei Reponty (FRA), Melanie Fosse (RUN), Marie Vigne (FRA)
ROUND OF 60 (1st and 2nd advance to ROUND OF 48, 3rd = 49th place, 4th = 55th place)
HEAT 1: Miku Uemura (HAW) 14.75, Ashley Lloyd (USA) 12.50, Nina Blake (GBR) 5.95, Noelle Rogers (USA) 4.60
HEAT 2: Deanne Ashmore (GBR) 10.75, Gaelle Szymkowiak (FRA) 5.90, Krisein Magelssen (HAW) 4.95, Robin Hesson (USA) 3.60
HEAT 3: Bianca Valenti (USA) 14.75, Clemence Godineau (FRA) 6.35, Kaoru Naito (JPN) 4.00 Sormarie Nieves (USA) 3.30
HEAT 4: Coline Menard (FRA) 12.25, Marinane Bellegrade (FRA) 7.50, Emma Fitzhenry (GBR) 6.85, Linde Logtenberg (HOL) 3.60,
HEAT 5: Schuyler McFerran (USA) 13.75, Kaitlin Maguire (USA) 13.50, Kelly Coward (USA) 8.75,
Margaret Yao (USA) 6.20
HEAT 6: Melanie Fosse (RUN) 9.00, Kath Robinson (AUS) 8.25, Yoko Furuchi (JPN) 5.85, Hanalei Reponty (FRA) 4.60
Visit www.aspworldtour.com/roxyjam/and www.roxy.com/roxyjam for more news, photos and information.
ROXY ASP WOMEN’S WORLD LONGBOARD CHAMPIONSHIP FAST FACTS
WHAT:
The inaugural Roxy ASP Women’s World Longboard Championship (WWLC) presented by Evian – the world’s first-ever Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) sanctioned female longboarding championship.
WHO:
Sixty athletes will compete in the Roxy ASP WWLC; the winner will be the first female in history with an ASP Women’s Longboarding World Title to her credit.
WHERE:
Côte des Basques, Biarritz, France – a surf-savvy town on the southwest coast of France, located in the Basque country just north of Spain.
WHEN:
>From July 3-9, 2006.
PRIZE MONEY:
The event offers an unprecedented US$30,000 in prize money. The winner of the Roxy ASP WWLC will earn US$4,500.
EVENT HISTORY:
This is the inaugural Roxy ASP WWLC. A non-ASP rated Women’s World Longboard Championship has been held in the Americas for the past seven years and the new Biarritz event, under a multi-year contract signed by ASP and Roxy, will honor the past champions.
Those past champions include:
2005 – Kristy Murphy (Florida, USA)
2004 – Summer Romero (California, USA)
2003 – Daize Shayne (California, USA)
2002 – Kim Hamrock (California, USA)
2001 – Cori Schumacher (California, USA)
2000 – Cori Schumacher (California, USA)
1999 – Daize Shayne (California, USA)