Saltrock Open in less than three weeks
The first event on the 2009 UK Pro Surf Tour, the Saltrock Open scheduled to be held over the Whitsun Bank holiday weekend, at Croyde Beach, is fast approaching. The event will be held over the Saturday and Sunday of the busy weekend, 24th 25th May. Later than in previous years, therefore open to more surfers as they return from their winter training
We will see surfers of all ages and abilities competing at the first major surfing event of the year. The venue for the event is Croyde Beach, one of Devon’s most celebrated breaks, possibly one of the best Beach Breaks in the country. This first tour pit-stop has grown in stature over the years thanks to epic and some challenging conditions also some heroic performances from the best surfers in the country.
Saltrock remain proud sponsors of this prominent leg of the tour, which will feature 4 main categories: Men’s Open, Pro-Juniors, Women’s Open and the Groms Tour. The Groms Tour includes 3 categories of its own; an Under-12s Open, an Under-16 Boys and Under-16 Girls. Saltrock are keen to maintain their support of young surfers and invest in the future of British surfing.
Saltrock has been a prominent part of the North Devon surfing community for over 20 years, and is again proud to be hosting a showcase event in their spiritual home of Croyde. This event will be the first of a nine event tour which spans the UK and Northern Ireland.
Entries have been flooding in fast and as usual with this event all divisions will be full and include an international field of competitors. Last year surf conditions varied from two to four feet, the eventual winner of the Open was Mark Harris who narrowly defeated Matt Capel on a count-back. In the Women’s division it was Nicole Morgan who set the standard for the rest of the year, by taking out this event and then going on to win the tour title, only losing one heat in the process.
Angus Thomson MD of Saltrock said “Saltrock is stoked to be sponsoring this event for the fifth year running and really pleased to be able to support British Professional Surfing in this way. All that is left to hope for is pumping surf and a blue sky for a perfect weekend.”
UK Pro Surf Tour Director Dave Reed commented “This is the eighth annual event we have staged in North Devon, each year it becomes bigger and better. With the support of Saltrock this year’s event will be no exception. We are eagerly looking forward to the start of the event and getting the UK Pro Surf Tour underway for 2009”.
Relentless Energy drink will also be supporting the event giving £250 for the best Aerial of the contest and providing plenty of refreshment to keep the surfers going. Kingofwatersports.com will also be supporting the event giving away Sector 9 Skateboards to the highest scoring wave for the Men and the Women.