Last week I packed up camp in Biarritz where I’ve spent the summer training and headed to the picturesque north west of Ireland for the British Surf Kayak Championships. The event, was held on the quiet shores of Donegal which holds some of the best surf breaks in Europe . A week before the event, swells were good and with up to 12ft surf and training was continuing to go really well. I spent the time familiarising myself with the competition break at Magheraroarty , working out which moves I could perform. I was mainly focussing on aerial manoeuvres (my speciality) and building up sequences of moves to gain maximum points in the competition.

At the end of the week, competitors began to arrive and with 7 of the world’s top 10 surf kayakers present, it clear this was going to be an extremely tough event. To make things harder, the swell dropped to small on the day of the contest and so it was even harder to perform higher scoring dynamic manoeuvres. However, I went into the event feeling confident that I was in good form. In the opening rounds I was able to maintain a high standard of surfing, knocking out the current world champion and achieving the highest score of day 1. This was a real boost and although nervous I entered day 2 focussed on making it through the final rounds. Winning both my quarter and semi-final heats it was all down to the final 30mins to prove my form.

With continuing poor conditions it was another tough heat and it was clearly going to be a game of patience to get the required 3 good rides. With a 10 min lull mid heat and only 1 good wave so far, the pressure was on in the last 10 minutes to find a couple of good rides. A last minute flurry gave me that extra edge I needed but not quite enough to make the top spot.

Finishing 2 nd is another great result and also gives me automatic qualification to the World Cup Finals to be held in Portugal this October. The finals consist of the top 24 qualifiers from around the world who will battle it out on some the best waves in Europe for the title of World Champion.

I’m really pleased to get the silver in the British and to qualify for the World Cup Finals it’s going to be really tough in Portugal but it’s an exciting challenge.