| National Surfing Championships |
This month the Mexican Surfing Association held its National Championships and qualifying rounds to send Mexico’ best surfers to the Amateur World Championships in Durban South Africa. Originally the World Championships were set for October of this year but were moved up six months to May 24th through June 3rd. This meant the Mexican Surfing Association had to move up all their qualifying events to allow the surfers to advance through the necessary rounds to determine who would get to represent Mexico in South Africa.
The past month has been a whirl wind of Surfing Tournaments here on the Costa Grande, with Mexico’s best Surfers coming in from across the country to compete. The first round started at the end of February, four hours south in Acapulco, Gro with hundreds of surfers coming in to qualify for the Nationals. The Semifinals were held 2 hours north in Rio Nexpa, Michoacan and the tiny surfing town swelled to three times its normal size when all the competitors arrived for the tournament, on the 3rd, 4th and 5th of March. Just three days later, on the 8th, 9th and 10th of March, it was back to Acapulco for the Finals. And the winners are: In the Women’s Body Board Category, new National Champion is Erika Steward e Inés Ramirez of Oaxaca, 2nd place Lilia Giron, also of Oaxaca. In the Women’s Surfing Category, New National Champion is Zihuatanejo’s own, Ana Isabel Scales. 2nd place Sofia Melgoza of Nayarit, 3rd place Mayte de la Torre of Jalisco. In the Men’s Body Board Category, New National Champion is Josué Rutherford of Oaxaca. 2nd place Carlos Carvajal of Guerrero, 3rd place Alex Fucates of Sinaloa. In the Youth Surfing Category, New National Champion is Josué Lozano of Oaxaca. 2nd place William Farias of Nayarit, 3rd place Jesús Roque of Guerrero, 4th place Manuel Trujillo of Guerrero. In the Surfing Free Category, New National Champion is Rodolfo Salinas of Oaxaca, 2nd place Abel Stopin of Colima, 3rd place Guillermo Cadena of Nayarit, 4th place Raúl Medina of Michoacán. New National Champion in the Masters Category is Lionel Perez, also of Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa’s Catcha L’Ola Surf Shop.
So Zihuatanejo brought home two national championship trophies and now its time to think about South Africa. The Mexican Surfing Association is forever in dire need and had to scramble to pay their International Surfing Association dues and entrance fees for the upcoming World Tournament and National Champions have been told they must solicit their own sponsorship to get there. A few of the champions are being sponsored by surfing outfitter, Squalo, but the rest are on their own. With just a little over a month to prepare, Mexico’s best surfers are in hot pursuit of sponsors to get them to the World Championships in South Africa and local business are stepping up to help. Sixto Mendez (Senior Surfing Champ 2000) of Anfibios Surf Shop in Zihuatanejo has been sponsoring 4 surfers through the National Tournament Circuit, all four of whom placed nationally. Bringing in 2nd, 3rd and 4th place in their categories with Anfibios Surfer Ana Isabel Scales taking the Women’s National Championship and winning the distinction of being the only female surfer to represent Mexico internationally.
Mendez beams with pride when he talks about his surfers and wants to do everything he can to help them. He has agreed to partly sponsor them toward South Africa and immediately got to work with Marco “El Guero” Gonzalez of the Guerrero Surfing Association to solicit community involvement and support. Along with women’s champ, Scales, they have spent the days following the tournament talking to local newspapers, giving interviews on local radio stations and national television and scheduling in photo shoots during practice sessions. The cost of airfare alone to South Africa is prohibitive and they are currently seeking sponsorship on all levels. For more information about what fund raising activities are being planned, contact Sixto Mendez at Anfibios Surf Shop in Zihuatanejo 554-5693 or Marco Gonzalez of the Guerrero Surfing Association at 044 755 556-5556.
March 2002
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