Last weekend saw surfers from about the country pack boards into vans, and head (mostly North) to Saltburn, home of the first event on the UK Pro Surf Tour (UKPST).
Amongst the shivering southerners was Tiger24′s own manslave, minimum wage employee and sponsored rider, Leon Mansfield. Entering both the Open as well as the Pro Juniors (he’s only 18), Mansfield clocked up a pair of impressive results.
The first day of the weekend event was put on hold, with less than perfect conditions forcing the organisers to run the whole shebang on the Sunday. After an early start, and with some better looking surf, the competition was run at full speed, with Russ Winter (metaphorically) taking gold in the Open, followed French superstar Gordon Fontaine in second and Newquay local Mark Harris taking third.
The Pro Juniors was run along side the Open, Lewis Clinton grabbed first, Benjamin Sowter took away second, and our very own Leon Mansfield trotted home with a big third place smile on his face. Nice one Leon.
Unfortunately the press release only included a couple of shots of Russ, nice novelty cheque though, and with none of the snappers at the event coughing up any Mansfield shots, I’ve had to make do with an accurate artists impression.
Find out more about Leon on his own website, check up in the UKSPT at theirs, and keep an eye on Tiger24 for more coverage of the closer upcoming 2011 Pro Surf Tour.
Here’s a copy ‘n’ paste of the results.
Men’s Open-
1-Russell Winter – Newquay
2-Gordon Fontaine – France
3-Mark Harris – Newquay
4-Reubin Pearce – S Africa
Women’s Open
1-Holly Donnelly – Newquay
2-Andrea Lawrence – Croyde
3-Hannah Harding – Totnes
4-Cerri Edwards – Porthtowan
Pro Junior
1-Lewis Clinton – Newquay
2-Benjamin Sowter – Truro
3-Leon Mansfield – Liskeard Newquay
4-Dale Foster – Newquay
Boys Under 16
1-Taz Knight – Croyde
2-Dale Foster – Newquay
3-Ed Smith – Liskeard
4-Max Pechonis – Bude
Chow.
