Wet n Wild Weekend at the BCS Watersports Championships
MORE than 100 watersports enthusiasts from all over the country donned their wetsuits and took to the water this weekend (May 22) when Cornwall College hosted the 2010 British Colleges Sport (BCS) Watersports Championships.
The national event, which was held at Gwithian Beach and Stithians Lake, was a test of endurance, concentration and ability for all involved, as competitors battled their way through a series of gruelling heats to qualify for the finals in a range of activities: surfing, body boarding, windsurfing, sailing, kayaking and a biathlon.
Competitors came from Cornwall College, North Devon, Truro & Penwith, Swansea, Bournemouth & Poole and North East Worcestershire Colleges.
Nick Goodchild, 17 from Falmouth who is studying at Cornwall College’s Falmouth Marine School came 2nd in both the sailing and windsurfing finals at Stithians Lake. He said: “It’s been a really great day, well organised, lots of fun and of course the weather has been fantastic. I haven’t competed for a while so I’m happy with my results, although I would have liked to have won the sailing!”
The day provided some fantastic competition and produced some very high levels of performance, which made the finals a really exciting climax to the event.
Russell Lawrance, Cornwall College Director of Sport, said: “Today was about raising the competitive profile of watersports and indeed outdoor education in colleges. The support from BCS enabled us to do this nationally. The weather was fantastic and I hope the students that competed can go back to their colleges and talk proudly about competing in a national college event, just in the same way as their colleagues in perhaps more traditional sports such as soccer have done over the years.”
Some of the winners on the day included Alex Vicente from North Devon College in the biathlon event which consisted of a 400m open water swim in the sea and a 5K beach run. Cornwall College Duchy student Adam Taylor came 3rd in the same event. Truro College’s Steve Hall won the bodyboarding contest. But it was the team from Bournemouth and Poole College who took home the event trophy and the title of BCS National Watersports Champions 2010 as they pushed Cornish rivals Truro and Cornwall College into second and third place.
At the end of the day all winners were presented with trophies and prizes to take home with them.
Dave Linnell OBE, Principal of Cornwall College, said: "Sport at Cornwall College is constantly improving and it's great that we have been able to organise the second student watersports championships after the success of last year’s event. It was a pleasure to see so many colleges from across the country descend on the county to take part in and support the event. Congratulations to the whole team for making the day a success."
The event was organised in conjunction with BCS by staff and students from Cornwall College and Falmouth Marine School, supported by Vospers, Avanquest Software, Hager Vor Surf, Sunset Surf, Alder Sport, South West Lakes Trust, Richard March from North and AHD and Pure Blue Water.