Bjorn Beats Britain's Best

 

Bjorn Storey slashing through the soup - Photo: Mike Searle

 

Stormy conditions meant the 2005 British Bodyboard Championships (held Saturday 29th September) were moved to the Newquay Bay beaches Towan (morning) and Tolcarne (afternoon). Competitors travelled to Cornwall from all over the UK to battle it out in the 4 - 5 ft+ waves for the title of the best bodyboarder in the UK, and the £1000 purse.

The Open category saw a large entry list with last year’s winner Joe Franklin and 2003 champ Danny Wall both return to battle it out for the title.

Early standouts in the event were 2004 English champion Bjorn Storey from Plymouth who showed an impressive display of manoeuvres to reach the final by beating super grom Harry Abbott and newcomer Richy Peters both from Newquay.
2004 British Bodyboard Champ Joe Franklin from Newquay and 2005 Welsh team member Mark Griffiths won there first two heats but were both knocked out in the semi finals along with NMD team riders Aaron Dinham and Trevones Ali Daniels who both beat off competition from Adam Black and Phil Milsom earlier in the day.

There was a shock exit from Plymouths Danny Wall who was knocked out in round 1 by English team member Lew Smart (from Sennen) who reached the final by finding the right waves and producing the right moves on them, this left the competition open.

2005 Student Bodyboard Champion Ryan Phelps from Portreath and 05 English team member Damien Prisk from Camborne used their competition experience all the way to the final winning every heat to the along the way, with them both linking up a good string manoeuvres on the wave, getting 50m rides all the way to the beach.

 

The open Final was held at high tide Tolcarne Bay with 6ft stormy but very contestable waves. The riders could catch up to 15 waves in the 25 mins heats and they were positioned in the heat with the top 2 scores added together.

The Bodyboarding was tight and saw Bjorn Storey storm into the lead with a 9.6/10 and from all the judges on his first wave with an air spin and a full combination of moves on his second wave getting an 8.5/10 and a combination of 19.1/20 score.

Story set the pace and the rest of the heat was on knife-edge. None of the other riders could get a wave scores more than the 7’s/10. The eventual winner was Storey picking up £500 with Lew Smart second and receiving £250, Damien Prisk pipped Phelps to the third place spot and received £150 while Phelps collected the £100 4^th place cheque.

Open 1-Bjorn Storey - Plymouth 2-Lew Smart - Sennen 3-Damien Prisk - Portreath 4-Ryan Phelps – Portreath   Under 18’s 1-Olly Agliano -  Newquay 2-Eddie Read – Penzance 3-Joe Hone - Wembury   Under 16 Cadets 1-Joe Hone - Wembury 2-Luke Brabyn - St Agnes 3-Samuel Newby – St Agnes 4-Tom Good - Newquay

Womans 1-Gemma Harris - Wales 2-Taz Sheppard – Bude  3-Candice O’Donnell – Newquay 4- Gemma Britton – St Agnes Seniors 1-Dale Johnson - Poole 2-Alistair Newby – St Agnes 3-Rich Hall - Bristol   Drop Knee 1-Danny Wall - Plymouth 2-Aiden Salmon- Newquay 3-Olly Medland - Plymouth 4-Guy Morgan – Newquay