Richards Bay Bodyboarder excels in overseas competition
posted by Gareth White on 8th July 2007
Mark McCarthy, from Richards Bay, claimed an astonishing second place in the coveted HUMAN Cronulla Shark Island Challenge, held this past weekend, 7 July, at Cronulla point near Sydney in Australia.
Having qualified for the event through the Nomad Brett Young Memorial Trials, McCarthy advanced through to the finals leaving formidable opponents in his wake.
The final was a show stopper, with current International Bodyboarding Association (IBA) World Champion, Jeff Hubbard (USA) and former World Champions, Ben Player (AUS) and "The God-Father" of bodyboarding, Mike Stewart (USA) in the line up.
"The conditions for the Finals were great! The waves were a clean 3 to 5 foot, with plenty of good ones coming through, offering us the opportunity to score highly. It was defiantly one of the best heats with no hassling and pushing, so there was a great vibe out there," commented McCarthy on conditions during the final.
In a closely fought contest viewed by hundreds enthralled spectators, McCarthy lost to Player by a mere 0.2 points, Stewart claimed third and Hubbard finished in fourth place.
Judges only count the two top scoring rides of each competitor and results came down to the wire when Player notched up a second scoring ride of 9.8 to add to his perfect 10 awarded early in the heat. Nothing less than perfect was going to come close to his score, so the riders had to be at their best. Stewart fought valiantly, picking up a 9 point ride after executing a big aerial maneuver. Both McCarthy and Hubbard were sitting on perfect scores and each needed another high scoring wave to challenge Player.
"It wasn't the greatest feeling seeing Mike Stewart scoring highly and then Ben Player getting that almost perfect 10 point ride in the first 10 minutes, but it was a 40 minute heat and I still had time to catch up. Jeff Hubbard also got a 10 point ride when he got a long barrel and busted a huge Air Roll Spin out of the barrel. Times were tough after hearing it over the microphone. I caught a few waves but nothing that could compare to their rides. I was sitting out at the back with Mike Stewart when he let one of the sets go, so I turned and went. I got a really deep barrel and came flying out behind the surge to get my 10 points. Later in the heat I was sitting at the back with a Jeff Hubbard when the next set of waves rolled in. I went on the first one, got a good barrel and did an Air Roll Spin out. I was given a score of 9.5 for the ride, Jeff then caught what would have been one of the waves of the heat. He got the longest barrel, but didn't make it out," commented McCarthy on events during the final.
McCarthy, a relative newcomer to the IBA World Tour surprised many with this result and with it has rightfully earned his place amongst the rising-stars of the sport.
"Mark surfed great! I was really happy to see him do so well. Most of the Australians had no idea who he was, as he took down some big names. I will be working more with him in the future on the objective of achieving his goals, and he has some big ones," commented Mike Stewart on McCarthy's achievements and abilities.
"It has always been a dream of mine to be able to compete on the IBA World Tour and then to surf the famous Shark Island Challenge, which is one of the hardest contests on the tour. The whole event was an amazing experience for me, having to surf my way from the trials was a challenge on its own. A memorable moment was making my first heat and having the belief that I could go all the way," added McCarthy.
The future looks bright for this young man as he embarks on his journey to the next stop on the IBA World Tour, scheduled to take place in Chile at the end of July. He then plans to return to South Africa for a brief rest period before continuing on his travels in hope of one day becoming the IBA World Champion.
Ends.
Prepared by Gareth White
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