The group of Canarian athletes has triumphed in ten of the twelve championships held so far
The Canarian Surf Team was the winner in the XII Regional Team Championship held this week on Valdearenas beach, in the town of Liencres (Piélagos, Cantabria). This is the tenth victory for Canarian athletes in the history of the championship, which has been held twelve times.
The group of Canarian athletes, who obtained 21,770 points, faced six other teams: Galicia (20,105), Asturias (19,966), Cantabria (19,344). Catalonia (17,287), Murcia (16,313) and Melilla (15,797). As it is a team competition, the scores obtained individually by each athlete are added, so that "the team that wins is the most consistent, the one that manages to have the best results in the greatest number of categories", of the 30 established for this occasion, explains the president of the Canary Islands Surf Federation, Ángel Lobo. These categories include short board, longboard, bodyboard, race, kneeboard, stand up paddle… The Canarian team stood out in all categories.
“In the Canary Islands we have great advantages for the practice of surfing, which are what explain the permanence of the archipelago team in the highest position in the ranking by regional teams throughout the history of this championship. On the one hand, we have a beneficial geographical position, with a better climate than the rest, with an ideal water temperature and with a position in the Atlantic that guarantees that waves arrive constantly all year round. These are the characteristics of our court, endowed by a nature that benefits us and allows us to train throughout the year,” explains Lobo.
On the other hand, the Canarian athletes have a very high level, which allowed us to have great figures from the team on the team. surfing with an international dimension, like Iballa Ruano, who has ten world titles in windsurfing and a world stand-up paddleboarding title; the double world champion stand up paddle –in the Sprint and team distance modalities, with the Spanish team- Alba Frey; the world champion bobyboard male, Armide Soliveres; the world champion of this modality in the junior category, Mauro Bolaños, and the Spanish champion of kneeboard 2020, David Hernandez.
The competitive level of the Canary Islands was shown, however, on this occasion, with a selection that, in addition to having these and other leading athletes, as a whole, was made up of very young members, with less competitive experience. "In reality, the other teams also started with these conditions, because they all had more experienced athletes who were competing in other championships. What we did was have surfers who were lower in the ranking from each category, people who are still gaining level. We made a call according to the classifications obtained and we took a less experienced selection to Liencres. We established a route strategically and they responded very well,” details the president of the Canarian federation.
