Costa Ricans sweep Central American surf competitions
Special to A.M. Costa rica
For the second time in as many years as the Central American Surf Championships
have been established, the Costa Rica National Surf Team earned all the top
awards. The Tico Team, selected by the Federacion de Surf de Costa Rica,
finished in first place in the Second Central American Championships Copa Sobe
Adrenalina Rush, Sunday after three days of competition at La Empalizada Beach
in Guatemala.
The event was organized by the Asociación Nacional de Surf de Guatemala.
Delegations from Panamá, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador and the team of the
Guatemalan hosts had good conditions for the weekend, and wound up the contest
surfing on Sunday in 8.5-foot waves.
According to Julio Mejicanos, association president, the event in La Empalizada
managed to unite all of Central America’s surfing teams, because each nation
sent four surfers to compete in the open, the same amount in junior and two for
the women’s, evening the competitive field in numbers.
“To have each one of the countries of this part of the world with a complete
team is one of the great benefits that we have had this year,” said Mejicanos.
“We consider it a reward for all the efforts that we have made to promote this
sport and the beauty of our beaches.”
The open semifinals brought it down to only two country’s athletes: Panama’s
Omar Figueroa and Alejandro Alfonso as well as Costa Rica’s Mattias Braun,
Diego Naranjo, Federico Pilurzu and Jason Torres.
In the Final series, however, it was Costa Rica’s surfers who became the great
protagonists with representatives in all the finals going man-to-man, two
competitors in the last heat going for the win.
In the open, it looked much the same as 1st year’s Central American Surf
Championships in Costa Rica’s Playa Esterillos, with Ticos Federico Pilurzu and
Jason Torres both carrying out maneuvers with much power that drew a great
amount of public applause.
During that half-hour heat, there was a constant shift of position between
Torres and Pilurzu. Nevertheless, in the last five minutes, Pilurzu was
confident enough to rush ahead of Torres and once again become Central American
Open Surf Champion, this time for 2007.
In the Juniors race, three Costa Ricans had an opportunity to battle in the
semifinals — Anthony Flores, Jairo Pérez and Nikolas Ruhlow — along with El
Salvadorian Israel Arenivar and the Panamanean David Godoy.
The man-to-man ended up Pérez versus Nikolas Ruhlow. After 20 minutes of intense
competition, it came down to the very end of the heat for the judges to decide
that it was the pure attack by Pérez that deserved first place.
Although the women’s semifinals included El Savador’s Joselin Ramos, Panama’s
Sonia García and Nicole Pérez, as well as Nicaragua’s Ashley Blaylock, the Tica
delegation of Lisbeth Vindas and Nataly Bernold returned to sweep the category.
Miss Vindas’ excellence in her heats earned her a second Central American
Women’s Surf Championship first place.
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