Irish Surfing Intervarsities

Lahinch Co. Clare Ireland
22 - 24 February 2008

Irish Student National Surfing Champs 2008

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 26 February, 2008 : - - The weekend of the 23/24th of February saw the hosting of the annual Irish Student National Surfing Championships in Lahinch, Co. Clare. Run by the NUI Galway Surf Club, in association with the Irish Surfing Association (ISA) and Tubes Boardsports, it was the largest surf competition held in Ireland to date.

The event was a resounding success, over 250 competitors took part from 12 different colleges and despite challenging surf conditions a brilliant contest was had. Ricky Whelan, Event Director, was delighted with the success of the weekend “Apart from the difficult conditions all the elements came together to make it a huge event”.

Most hotly contested was the brand new beginner competition, an event for those who have never competed before. With over 60 entrants there were 3 rounds of heats over two days before John Burke of Sligo IT took the honours in a close final.

The main competition was also run over the two days with four different categories; Open, Women, Bodyboard and Longboard. Aidan Byrne of Sligo IT took home a beautiful brand new longboard when he surfed through the rounds to capture first place whilst NUIG’s Andrew Kilfeather took top honours in the Bodyboard.

Jessie Smith, also of Sligo IT, claimed the win in the womens category, surfing well in the difficult conditions to bring yet another title back to Sligo. The open category had close to 50 contestants and had some of the top surfers in Ireland battling it out. The waves were far from perfect but the final was still a spectacular show with Stephen Kilfeather of NUIG just edging it past Eoin McCarthy Deering of NUIG to claim first place.

The winning college was decided by allocating points to all those individuals who placed. Whilst Sligo IT put up a strong challenge, it was the NUI, Galway Team who took the title for the third time in a row.

The event raised €750 which was donated to the RNLI for all their great work. Thank you to competitors and spectators alike who came and contributed to this really worthy cause. Most of this was raised from the ‘Expression Session’, a fun event held on the Saturday where individuals competed for such honourable titles as ‘Best Wipeout’ and ‘Best Bikini Babe’.

NUIG surf club would like to thank all that helped make this event such a resounding success. We could not have done this without the help of all our sponsors; Tubes Boardsports, Nixon, Gravis, Fitzgeralds Surfworld, Element, Lahinch Surf Shop, The Green Room, Bens Surf Clinic, The Surf Coach, Power Source surfboards, Red Bull.

As well as Analog, Santa Cruz, Vans, Perfect Day Surf School, Globe, The Realm, Nomad Surfboards, Dakine, Cornor Stone Bar, Coughlan's Centra, Ocean Scene Surf Shop, Oakely, Mrs Palmers Surf Wax, Indo boards, Delphi Adventure Centre, Ninth Beach, Lahinch Hostel, Christian Surfers, Lahinch Mace, Extreme Hype Clothing and Turf n Surf helping out.

Special thanks to the ISA, West Coast Surf Club and all those in Lahinch who put up with us, especially Café Sicilian, The Spinnaker, O’Looney’s Bar & Wave Restaurant and Lahinch Golf Lodge.

Full list of results

Beginner
1st John Burke (SIT),
2nd Brian O’Donnacha (NUIG),
3rd Martin McAleese (UUC),
4th Dan Breen (GMIT),
5th Elaine Tarrant (UCC),
6th Stephen Keogh (WIT).

Open
1st Stephen Kilfeather (NUIG),
2nd Eoin McCarthy Deering (NUIG),
3rd Kevin Smith (SIT).

Women
1st Jessie Smith (SIT),
2nd Sophie Piggott (TCD),
3rd Claire Concannon (NUIG)

Longboard
1st Aidan Byrne (SIT),
2nd Gareth Gargan (GMIT),
3rd Stephen Kelleher (NUIG)

Bodyboard
1st Andrew Kilfeather (NUIG),
2nd Ryan McEnroe (SIT),
3rd Aidan Kelly (NUIG)

Team Results
1st NUIG,
2nd SIT

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