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Matt Capel and Toby Atkins were the joint winners of the inaugural Headworx ‘Riders Choice’ Award this weekend at the Annual Surf Awards in Newquay.
The unique award was for the surfer or surfers who received the most votes from his or her peers as the Most Outstanding Surfer on the BPSA Tour. Headworx created the award in the spirit of their ‘Riders Choice’ philosophy, to honour the judgment of the surfers themselves in appreciating the talents of their co-competitors. Until now the annual awards have only included prizes won by success in contests or by nomination from British surfing’s governing bodies, the BSA and the BPSA.
The Riders Choice award went down a storm, with Britain’s top surfers keen to cast their ballots - as well as canvass for votes themselves before Sunday’s ceremony. Top contenders included the ever-popular Mark ‘Egor’ Harris, BPSA Tour Champion Reubin Pearce, the ‘Ladies Favourite’ Micah Lester and the stand-out Ladies BPSA Champion Nicole Morgan. In the end, though it was two of the younger stars of the tour who won the equal-highest number of votes with their radical and impressive arrivals on the UK scene.
Headworx rider Matt Capel has impressed everyone this year on the British circuit, with two finals out of four senior events on the BPSA, finishing 4th in the British Championships and 2nd on the BPSA’s Pro Junior Tour. The 19-year-old from Devon recently helped England to 4th place in the European Championships in Portugal and was arguably the stand-out surfer at this weekend’s Newquay Open, disappointing only in the final. In the year’s last contest which concluded the BPSA tour at Fistral on Sunday, Matt knocked out heavyweights Mark Harris & Sam Lamiroy on his way to 4th place, eventually succumbing to the exertion of four heats in one day. Nonetheless, the word on the tour is that Matt is here to stay and British surfing has high hopes of the young Headworx rider.
Toby Atkins, based at Constantine Bay has been an ever-present performer on this year’s BPSA circuit and won the respect of his peers by consistently pulling off big moves on the tour. Toby won three of this year’s six Freerange Style Moves, including best re-entry at the Headworx Welsh Open and most progressive manoeuvre this weekend in Newquay. Toby, originally from Australia, finished 4th at the Lusty Glaze Night Surf and reached two semi-finals. Toby’s popularity has been earned with impressive freesurfing, dedicated competition and a true sportsmanlike attitude which will stand him in good stead for next year and beyond.
With Matt and Toby bizarrely winning an equal proportion of the vote, this year’s Riders Choice Award was shared between them.
Headworx marketing manager Ben Byfield commented “It was great to see the enthusiasm of the surfers for the Riders Choice Award, and it was certainly one of the highlights of the evening. Headworx are committed to making this an annual award and I think that will be a popular decision.”
Caption: Joint-winner of the Headworx Riders Choice Award, Matt Capel
Image: Headworx / Kirstin Prisk
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