Action Resumes at Thurso East on Day Three of ASP 6-Star O’Neill Cold Water Classic Scotland

Thurso East – Scotland (Friday, April 15, 2011) –The O'Neill Coldwater Classic Scotland swung back into motion running through to complete Round Two and the first two heats of Round Three of competition with standout surfers Joan Duru (FRA) and Alain Riou (PYF) taking full advantage of the walling 6ft (1.5m) lines at Thurso East reef.

A late afternoon glass-off saw a return of excellent off-shore conditions leaving little doubt for officials and surfers to continue pushing ahead to complete a marathon twelve hours of intense action.

Duru, a former European Champion in 2009, threaded his way through the deepest barrel of the day followed by a smashing gouge to claim a 9.10 out of 10 to advance through to Round 4 along with Jay Quinn (NZL) ousting an inform Dion Atkinson (AUS). The pumping swell on dusk was the perfect back drop for a spectacular display by the young goofy footer from Ondres, in the French Basque Region.

“The waves are pumping now,” stated Duru. The bomb came to me and it was perfect and I was lucky so it is sick. I have never caught a wave like that here and before my first heat was a little cross-shore, perfect for doing big turns and now it is only barrels.”

“I like surfing on my backhand,” continued Duru. “The wave is strong and my board is good so I want to go as far as I can in these waves at this contest.”

Alain Riou (Tahiti, PYF) 27, who was first up after the contest had been placed on hold due to the low tide, sprung out of the starting gate linking a series of critical backhand smashes on two consecutive rides in the first 10 minutes of his heat, to claim a 17.34 out of 20 heat total and advance comfortably through to the following round of competition.

“The tide was a bit too low before and the guys were surfing on the kelp but now the tide is coming in and it is definitely better with the wind dropping off. There are some really nice waves out there now.”

“I was the only one on his backhand in that heat so sometimes it is an advantage,” continued Riou. “The judges see that your turns are good and then let the other three guys hassle to see if their forehand turns are any good.”

Riou, one of Europe’s most experienced surfers on the Asp Star Tour, is currently ranked nº 127 after a slow start to his 2011 campaign and hopes to move up the rankings ladder to increase his chances of competing in the all important Asp Prime events coming up.

“Not everyone can do the Prime events and right now I can’t even get into a Prime because I had a bad start to the year. I am sitting around 125 on the rankings and only the top 100 enter so it is important that I get my points back and into the Top 100 and into the Primes and maybe think about the midyear cut but I have a bit of work to do.”

Christophe Allary (REU) 26, survived two nail biting heats to eventually advance into Round Three and gained confidence with his performances today in the quality conditions. An interference call did little to stop the young Frenchman from keeping his head and securing second place in the dying moments of his 30-minute clash.

“I’m really happy and at the last 10 seconds again I got through. It was tough because being a point break everybody is paddling up the point and you can’t sit in the place you want to.”

“I went straight for the barrel and already my fins were sliding out then I saw the barrel closing a little but I made it,” explained Allary. “I had no idea if it was the score I needed or my position in the heat so I am stoked to make it again.

Yuri Sodre (BRA) 32, narrowly scraped through to Round Three in a low scoring tussle relying on tactics and wave selection to claim the small score required to advance. Sodre had a similar performance in his day-one heat and is yet to step into top gear.

“I got through again but I don’t know what is happening at the moment. It was scary because there are so many good waves and I didn’t get any again but in the end I got the wave I needed to go into the next heat.”

Sodre, runner-up in last year’s CWC Scotland, knows the Thurso waves and what is needed to conquer the cold and the freezing wind to make it to the business end of the event.

“It is strange because I am feeling good in the water and in my training but in the heat I don’t know if I am too anxious to get a wave and surf well but it is not happening. At least I am finding the way to get through and the waves are much better than last year and I am really happy to be here again.”

The O'Neill Coldwater Classic Scotland is stop nº 2 of the O'Neill Coldwater Classic Series with surfers out to solidify their overall standings as well as gain valuable Asp World Rankings points.

The O’Neill Cold Water Classic Scotland is scheduled from April 13 -19, 2011.

REMAININGO’NEILL CWC SCOTLAND ROUND THREE MATCH-UPS
Heat 3: Reubin Pearce (GBR), Alain Riou (PYF), Russel Winter (GBR)
Heat 4: Hodei Collazo (EUK), Charles Martin (GLP), Lincoln Taylor (AUS)
Heat 5: Adrien Toyon (REU), Richard Christie (NZL), Yuri Sodre (BRA)
Heat 6: Romain Cloitre (FRA), Leonardo Neves (BRA) Micah Lester (GBR)
Heat 7: Brent Dorrington (AUS), Vincent Duvignac (FRA), Christophe Allary (REU)
Heat 8: Davey Cathels (AUS), Kevin Sullivan (HAW), Aritz Aranburu (EUK)

O’NEILL CWC SCOTLAND ROUND THREE RESULTS
Heat 1: Joan Duru (FRA) 12.93, Jay Quinn (NZL) 8.73, Dion Atkinson (AUS) 8.50
Heat 2: Yujiro Tsuji (JPN) 13.54, Tim Boal (FRA) 12.34, Marc Lacomare (FRA) 7.13

O’NEILL CWC SCOTLAND ROUND TWO RESULTS
Heat 1: Dion Atkinson (AUS) 16.84, Marc Lacomare (FRA) 12.93, Justin Mujica (PRT) 10.06, Gordan Fontaine (FRA) 5.94
Heat 2: Joan Duru (FRA) 16.36, Yujiro Tsuji (JPN) 12.60, Kristian Kymerson (BRA) 11.27, Brian Toth (PRI) 5.90
Heat 3: Tim Boal (FRA) 12.50, Jay Quinn (NZL) 11.90, Gony Zubizarreta (ESP) 11.66, Marlon Lipke (DEU) 9.30
Heat 4: Reubin Pearce (GBR) 12.50, Hodei Collazo (EUK) 10.90, Norman Landa (EUK) 10.23, Noboyuki Osawa (JPN) 10.00
Heat 5: Alain Riou (PYF) 17.34, Charles Martin (GLP) 13.13, Eneko Acero (EUK) 13.07, Jayce Robinson (GBR) 10.76
Heat 6: Lincoln Taylor (AUS) 14.10, Russel Winter (GBR) 10.60, Patrick Beven (FRA) 8.74, Billy Stairmand (NZL) 3.00
Heat 7: Adrien Toyon (REU) 9.64, Romain Cloitre (FRA) 9.43, Killian Garland (USA) 8.74, Indar Perez (EUK) 7.77
Heat 8: Richard Christie (NZL) 17.17, Leonardo Neves (BRA) 10.37, Brandon Jackson (ZAF) 8.86, Teppei Tajima (JPN) 7.27
Heat 9: Micah Lester (GBR) 9.94, Yuri Sodre (BRA) 7.67, Filipe Jervis (PRT) 6.50, Romain Laulhe (FRA) 5.24
Heat 10: Brent Dorrington (AUS) 14.73, Davey Cathels (AUS) 12.34, Glen Hall (IRL) 7.50, Jared Thorne (USA) 2.50
Heat 11: Vincent Duvignac (FRA) 12.10, Kevin Sullivan (HAW) 12.00, James Taipan Woods (AUS) 11.57, Chris Waring (USA) 7.67
Heat 12: Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 14.57, Christophe Allary (REU) 5.83, Brendon Gibbens (ZAF) 5.57, Love Hodel (HAW) 3.87

REMAINING O’NEILL CWC SCOTLAND ROUND ONE RESULTS
Heat 21: James Taipan Woods (AUS) 8.64, Brendon Gibbens (ZAF) 8.44, Jonathan Gonzalez (CNY) 6.30, Tom Buttler (GBR) 3.07
Heat 22: Kevin Sullivan (HAW) 12.17, Christophe Allary (REU) 10.95, Stuart Kennedy (AUS) 10.74, Nicholas Squires (AUS) 9.50
Heat 23: Love Hodel (HAW) 8.00, Chris Waring (USA) 7.50, Patrick Daniel (GBR) 2.66, Alexander El Naib (DEU) 0.00
Heat 24: Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 13.37, Vincent Duvignac (FRA) 11.10, Cory Arrambide (USA) 10.50, Mitch Corbet (GBR) 6.76