Scottish surf team to compete in stepping stone for 2024 Olympics qualification

The Scottish surf team will hit the waves at the GB Cup with hopes of qualifying for the 2024 Olympics.

The excitement in the Scottish surfing community is high as the team head to Newquay for the Fistral Beach competition.

The competition will be held in partnership with Surfing England, over the weekend of October 28 to 29.

While the surfers are excited to fly the flag for Scotland, the competition will be a stepping stone for those hoping to keep their Olympic dream alive.

Hannah Sharp of the Scottish surf team. Supplied

Coach Craig Sutherland has high hopes for the surfing scots ahead of the big weekend with some of the youngsters taking to the main stage and entering the adult events.

“The juniors events were cancelled, but we’ve still got some of our juniors competing.

“Even those who aren’t competing, its going to be a great experience for them and offer a range of training opportunities for future events”.

Sutherland added that they have a really promising group of surfers, adding: “Surfing has come on massively in Scotland, the standard keeps going up.

“With the wave pool coming to Edinburgh as well, that just adds even more opportunity for development.”

The competition this weekend will give surfers the opportunity to be noticed by higher ups in the circuit ranks that could lead them to comps in the International Surfing Association which would take them to the Olympic stage.

Captain of the Scotland team, Mark Boyd, said: “We are excited to be flying the flag for Scotland at the GB Cup in Newquay this year”.

Gwen Spurlock, GB surfing team manager, said: “Our overall aim is to develop surfers capable of performing on the biggest stage and winning Olympic medals in the years to come, and this has to start at home.

“Raising the level of the GB Cup is therefore a big part of our strategy, giving British surfers, judges and other support staff access to elite competition.

“Increasing the size of the field and putting a place in the ISA World Surf Games on the line will add to the pressure and expose our best surfers to a highly competitive field of competition.”