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McCarthy bags his maiden World Tour win

posted by Kelly Footit on 8th September 2008

Would you be Mark McCarthy today? With a maiden victory on the IBA World Tour and the cheque to go with it, you might fancy the idea but yesterday morning, ahead of the final day of the Doninos Bodyboard Pro that thought might not have been that enticing. The draw was a tough one - it started with a Round 4 match up with former World Champ Mike Stewart which McCarthy won in the last heat of day 4 and led to a Quarter Final clash with 6 times World Champ Guilherme Tamega - the man-on-form who won at Arica and and Sintra - and from there on, if the favourites stayed in, it was going to be a semi-final clash worthy of any final.

Quarter Final 4 went to McCarthy with Tamega in second meaning they would meet again in Semi Final 2. Joining them was the Portuguese rider Manuel Centeno, finalist in Sintra and 3 times European Champion, and the current and two times World Champion Ben Player - and it was a heat which lived up to its all-star status. McCarthy threw in a decent 6 point ride to lead for the first 10 minutes of the half hour semi-final. With riders of this calibre, that was probably not going to be good enough which proved to be the case over the next 20 minutes as the lead changed countless times with each rider claiming that lead at some point. Mark bettered his 6 point ride with a 6.90 but with 5 minutes remaining he was sitting in fourth needing one good score and with 3 minutes remaining he pulled out the big move - an 8.35 back-flip, the highest score of the heat which won him his semi, Player in second with Centeno in third and Tamega fourth.

Semi-final one went to two other Brazilians - Uri Valadao, victor at Sopelana and the current tour leader and fellow countryman Rene Xavier. The Brazilians have totally dominated the European leg of the World Tour so far and with Valadao on fire, they were looking on for a clean sweep from the 3 events.

Enter Mark McCarthy - with appearances in four World Tour event finals and just falling short on each occasion, the man has been hungry for a victory this year and now he would have another crack at a win. We tend to reckon South Africans are always the underdog but Mark has made a name for himself on the tour - we PROfile Pierre Louis Costes in the latest issue of sixty40 (out end of September) where he reckons "Mark is probably one of the hardest competitors I have ever seen" and whatever the local Spanish commentators were saying, they seemed to be throwing his name around a hell of a lot, so he was definitely not going into the final with underdog status.

After a 20 minute break between the semis and the final, it was back out into the stormy, shifty conditions which would once again challenge the rider's wave selection and physical stamina against the rigorous paddles. When Doninos turns on, it is one of Europe's top beach breaks with a peak which runs equally as good both left or right which competitors enjoyed in the early rounds. When the winds are on it and it turns shifty it is, however, still very contestable with sections around to bust off.

On the buzzer it was McCarthy who set the early pace with a 6.25 from the first wave of the heat - a back-flip out the back and roll on the inside. Ben Player quickly matched that score and for the next twenty minutes Player and Valadao exchanged the lead and seemed like the two rider to beat while Xavier had some pretty average opening rides and McCarthy was a bit quiet waiting on his second scoring wave. With 5 minutes remaining Mark was again in fourth needing a big score to pull it off when a big right hander pulled through, which he busted a big roll off for an 8.75 which boosted him into the lead and left the remaining 3 riders all requiring rides of 7 points plus to take it back. Rene Xavier put in a late show to grab two scoring waves and move ahead of Player. Valadao got his second scoring wave - a 7.10 which ended up 0.16 short of what he required and with the clock running out we had the commentators hilariously throwing off their clothes and shoes as McCarthy made his way to the beach where he was carried off to face the media.

Final Results:

1st Mark McCarthy
2nd Uri Valadao
3rd Rene Xavier
4th Ben Player

In victory, Mark was as humble as ever choosing to dedicate his win to a close friend who believed in his dream but sadly passed away recently.

"Yeah, I am stoked. Finally, a dream come true to make a final on the IBA Tour and win it ... for sure. It was pretty close but I always knew that I was just one good wave away from the lead and when it came I was really happy. I would like to dedicate this win to a very close friend of mine Ian Patton."

Mike Stewart gave us a little insight into the psyche of the winner in the lead up to the final day as well as praise for what he had achieved, "Mark said he woke up this morning thinking there was no way he was going to win with the heat draw that he had. But he didn't lose a heat against former and current world champions on his way to a convincing win against current IBA tour points leader Uri Valadao."

For any sportsman, if you win, you would like to do it against the best - on Saturday, 6th September 2008 at Doninos in Spain, Mark McCarthy did just that. Congratulations and let's hope we see more in future.

Deeply Doninos DK Series

Doninos also saw the revival of the World DK Tour which was won by David Hubbard with Amanzimtoti's Darren Halse claiming second from Kako Garcia, third and Diogo Pimenta fourth.

After a few years out of competition, Darren is back and competing on the World Tour. Competent at prone as well as DK, his best result on the World Tour to date was a 9th at the Pipe Pro where he made quite a name with some impressive riding and was unlucky not to progress further. Watch out for more from him in future.

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After the event we managed to grab Mark for a quick Q&A:

You had a tough draw, yet you won all your heats. That's a pretty convincing way to win the title. Which was your toughest heat?
They were all crazy but in my semi finals I had Tamega (6 times World Champ) Ben Player (2 times and current World Champ) and Manuel Centeno (Portugal) who is 3 times European Champ and also came 3 in the Sintra Pro last week. We all were in first place at some time in the heat. I was in 4th for most of the heat; it came down to the last 5 mins when I picked up an 8.35 by back-flipping off a set wave.

The finals was epic, I found the first wave in the heat, went left, got a black-flip out the back and linked it in with a roll on the inside. With 5 mins to go I needed a good score to win and found a sweet right drainer, did a big roll and got 8.75. It was a really close heat with Uri, Ben and Rene Xavier - every one was surfing there best and giving it all!

How were the conditions? Did they suit your riding?
The conditions were really challenging as the tide had such a huge effect on the waves, it was so shifty. I would sit down with Mike before my heat and try find where the winning waves were coming though. The wave was a beach break - a good right and rip bowl left. It started off at about 6 to 8 feet in the morning and ended up at about 4 feet for the finals. The waves were a lot like my home break in Alkantstrand.

Your first win on Tour - you must be stoked!
Man I can't explain how much this means for me. To set a goal and achieve it is a really great feeling! It's the win that I needed after making the finals 4 times and always falling short of victory. Dam victory is sweet!!!

What next? Going home for SA Champs?
O yes I will be back in South Africa next week - it's been a long 9 months on the road. I left SA in January for Hawaii and it will be good to see my family and friends again. I am also looking forward to riding for Zululand at SA Champs.

I will have to work out the points on the tour. I might miss out the next event in Brazil in November and just head off to Canary Islands in December for the last 2 events on the tour.

Have you been scoring any surf through Spain and Portugal?
I have been cruising with Mike Stewart and the Science distributor from Portugal Bernardo who has taken really good care of me. The waves have not been the greatest but over the last weeks we have been blessed with waves. We did a sick road trip from Portugal to Spain, stopping over at most of the beaches to do bodyboarding clinics and viewings of Mike's new movie FIRE.

Your signature board is coming out - what can we expect from it?
Stayed tuned for that, I am working on a video clip for the board. I have high hope for it, the board is next level stuff. It has taken awhile to dial it in and finally it's done!

Any shout outs?
Thanks to everyone! All my friends, family and loved ones back home!! It's an amazing experience to win an IBA event and the best thing about it is that anyone is capably of doing it if they really wanted it! Go for it!

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