Teen becomes first person to claim three titles at Scottish surfing championships

A Scottish teen has become the first person to ever claim three title wins at the Scottish Longboard Championships.

The annual event ran at Pease Bay in Scottish Borders from May 24 to 25.

Ansel Parkin became the first person ever to come in first for the men’s category, as well as in the under 18’s and Lowland’s category.

The 16-year-old said he was “over the moon” to take home the win in the three categories.

“I came into the competition this morning trying to do my best in all my categories, I knew I could do okay but didn’t think I would be able to do this,” he said.

“The competition was great this year, it was so tight with all the other competitors, most of the heats were super close especially in the finals.”

Mr Parkin said he found his love of longboarding after joining Belhaven Surf Club, and was inspired by Sam Christopherson, who co-runs the club and owns local surf school Coast to Coast.

“A couple years ago I joined a surf club started by Sam, so he helped me get good at shortboarding and he did a lot of longboarding so he inspired me to get into it,” he said.

Hannah Sharp secured the Scottish Women National Champion title. Malcolm Anderson

Belhaven Surf Club had multiple surfers entered in each category including Hannah Sharp who secured the Scottish Women National Champion title following.

Speaking on her win, Ms Sharp said: “It feels really good, it’s been a really fun competition.”

“You never really know, I got a couple of okay waves, then I got a good one, it was quite a hard heat as the waves were inconsistent as times,” he said.

“The heat was quite close too so anything could’ve happened. I tried not to think about it too much in the water.”

She added that the inspiration behind longboarding was being able to surf every kind of condition.

“I want to be good at shortboarding, I was to be good at longboarding, I want to just have fun in the water and surf the best board for the day, rather than doing one thing,” she continued.

Sam Christopherson spoke on the clubs success saying it “really opens up doors” for our surfers

“With Ansel and Hannah they get to represent Scotland at the European championships,” he said.

“Scottish Surfing is expanding to support more than just shortboarding in Scotland, and it’s great because we have such a strong range of multi-disciplined surfers here.”

The club, which relaunched in 2021, has scouted the best junior surfers on the East Coast and trained them in shortboarding and longboarding.

He added that the club is working to inspire a generation of water men and women rather than surfers.

“Both styles of surfing feed into one another, if you can do a turn on a longboard you can really turn on a shortboard, with longboarding you get the flow and artistry that comes with that too,” Mr Christopherson told STV News.

The annual event ran at Pease Bay in East Lothian from May 24 to 25. Malcolm Anderson

Paul Stark, CEO of Scottish Surfing, said the contest demonstrated the “strong talent” Scotland has to offer.

“The Scottish National and Lowland Longboard Championships is a key event in the calendar, and this weekend highlights just how important it is.

“We had a great turn out of Scotland’s best longboarders as well as the conditions to deliver an outstanding championships,” he said.

“In Scotland we have some of the best talent in the world, and at Scottish Surfing we are working to support every discipline of the sport, from shortboarding to longboarding to bodyboarding.”

Mr Stark continued: “Special thanks to our main sponsor Finisterre and to our other supporters including Coast to Coast Surf School, Lockett Brothers, Vision Events and Lost Shore Surf Resort.”