Quiksilver World Junior Games Update - 14/May/2007
GB Team Earn a Creditable 11th Place

Solid performances from Dane Hall, Gwen Spurlock, Jayce Robinson and Joshua Hughes went a big way to earning the GB Junior team 11th place in this year's Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championships in Portugal. This year a record 257 surfers from 28 different nationalities competed for U16 Boys, U18 Boys and U18 Girls Divisions.

The result is an improvement of 3 places from last year's 14th but the top ten remained tantalizingly out or reach. The competition was held just outside Lisbon’s city limits at Costa de Caparica in small but clean beachbreak conditions during a weeklong heatwave that saw temperatures rise into the 30’s.

Jayce Robinson slashing his way to victory over French No.1 Joan Duru in rep round 3
Photo by T.Greenaway/Gwithian Academy of Surfing

The British Team’s surfers were up against the world’s best surfers and proved themselves to be more than capable of holding their own. Swansea’s Gwen Spurlock beat Australia’s Ashley Smith in her first heat before going on to finish a respectable 31st. In the Boys Under 18’s, meanwhile, St Ives’ Jayce Robinson finished 25th, taking down ASP European Junior Champion Joan Duru along the way. The ebullient Josh Hughes from Newquay put on a tactical masterclass to progress to the fourth round of the under 16’s repocharge and a final position of 43rd.

Australia were far and away the overall Team Champions, with four surfers in the three grand finals, two of them placing 1st. The Under 18’s Boys division was won by Brazil’s Jadson Andre with an incredible individual performance. Winning the U16’s Boys was Aussie Garrett Parkes, who blew minds with his energetic, progressive surfing. The girls champ was Sally Fitzgibbon, again from Australia.

For the British Squad, another grueling winter training program beckons as they aim to crack that top 10 finish next year…

Full Teams Results: