Quiksilver Cheq/Slovak Champs

Les Bourdaines, Seignosse France
24 - 26 June 2008

Tereza Olivovą and Jan Klavaną win Quiksilver Cheq/Slovak Champs

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 28 June, 2008 : - - For the past 4 days the Cheq/Slovak Surfing Championships were held in 'les bourdaines' (Seignosse) and the competition was blessed with excellent surfing conditions. The surf ranged from a consistant 3 feet for the ladies final on Wednesday to 6 feet for the Mens Open rounds on Thursday/Friday. This event had two main division this week being the Ladies and Mens Open.

On Wednesday, the ladies in the final heat had surfed a total of 4 heats in one day and were physically finished after paddling-out and against the increasing swell size. With some of the ladies never surfing a competition before impressed both judges and fellow countrymen by being courage and strong. Standing-up to the currents and strength of the Atlantic ocean swells.

In the end it was Tereza Olivovą who proved to be the strongest lady surfer and was crowned the 2008 Cheq/Slovak Surfing Champion. With never having entered a surfing compettition in her life and yet alone away from home, it was her past experiences in the water's of Hossegor/Seignosse that paid off in the end for her.

After the final Tereza said  "i am over the moon with todays result and still can't believe my luck in these conditions. In that last heat (final) i just wanted to catch the biggest and longest rides to give it my best chance to win" Tereza scored 9.5 points in the final heat to win.

Tereza also congratulated the other ladies finalists for putting up such a great show in the finals,but stressed the point that her win has to be supported by the fact that every summer she travels here to surf bigger waves and to gain more experience.

Jan Klavaną : photo Kevin Olsen

Runner-up when to Alexandra Cisąvovą with a total of 8 points out of a possible 20 and some solid surfing at the back, dropping into a couple great waves, but no managing to continue her rides with open face surfing. 3rd went to Tereza Dobrovoina, the former Miss Cheq, and in 4th was Basą Stevalova.

With the swells getting closer to the 2m mark and more difficult for the mens surfers, it would be the fittest and the strongest surfers to advance heat after heat.

The open mens division promised to be a cracker event with all the male surfers being well traveled and experienced, the men were always going to show us what's possible. Quiksilver's pro snowboarder and local to Hossegor, Martin Cernik, surfed through 4 rounds to advance to the Mens final along with his best friend Michael Meisner. The two other relatively unknown and quiet surfers in the finals were Petr Bavic and Jan Klavaną.

In 30 minute final and the positions for first changing over and over again between Martin Cernik and close friend Michael Meisner there was always room for another surprise.

Enter Jan Klavaną, a goofy footer surfing on his backhand for most of the event comes alive in the last 10 minutes of the Mens final with the best score of the event, scoring a well earned 9.5 for a combination of 3 well controlled off-the-lip smashes on one wave. His back-up wave was a 6 and Jan's final overall score in the heat was 15.5 out of a possible 20 points.

"I always knew i could perform at this event and i was confident in the final, but i was physically tired and it took me along time to get going" said Jan after the final horn had blown. Breathless and excited after the final he continued to say " after catching that bomb wave with less than 6 minutes on the clock and a 9.5 score that motivated me to dig deep and find the energy- i am so stoked"

So the new Cheq/Slovak Surfing Championship for 2008 is Jan Klavaną. Second place went to Martin Cernik, 3rd was Petr Bavic and fourth was Michael Meisner. The Quiksilver VIP team won the tag Team event and everyone had a massive party last night before having to return to their place of birth with no waves.

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Kevin Olsen

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