COSTA RICA NATIONAL SURF TEAM SCORES 4 TH OVERALLSQUAD RETURNS HOME VICTORIOUS TONIGHT ON COPA AIRLINES FLIGHT; ARRIVES 7:00 P.M. COSTA RICA TIME AT SAN JOSE'S JUAN SANTAMARIA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
by Ellen Zoe Golden
The Bevy, Marketing and Designs... The Catalyst Group
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IQUIQUE , CHILE November 12, 2007 – Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica 's Gilbert Brown yesterday made surf history for his country when he raced out of the second chance repercharge Finals, into the Open Finals, and maneuvered into 3 rd place of the Panamericanos Surf Chile 2007 in Iquique . With this Bronze medal, he obtained the best performance ever by a Costa Rican surfer in the Pan American Surfing Games in the Open division.
In front of over 1,000 people on the beach, Brown ran through his repercharge heats—the first obstacle of the morning—by taking 1st, 2nd, than 1st in those Finals, and then positioned himself for the Open Finals. He was in 2nd place in that heat based an illustrious performance. Yet, in the last five minutes, his opponent, the Peruvian Javier Swayne, literally scooped in to score enough to take 1st place, knocking Gilbert to 3rd, and the Brazilian Erc De Souza to 2nd place.
Still, the Bronze medal was groundbreaking for Brown and Costa Rica . Only two years ago, Tamarindo 's Federico Pilurzu cracked the first ceiling when he earned a Copper medal with a 4th place Open finish at the Reef Panamericano de Surf Peru 2006 Copa Motorola . (Pilurzu missed this year as he is making more history as the first Costa Rican at the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Qualifying Series (WQS) Reef Hawaiian Pro, which kicks off the Triple Crown in Ali'i Beach Park in Haleiwa Town on Oahu 's famous North Shore .) Jaco's Jason Torres, claimed Gold at Peru 2006 with his medal in the Junior category of that tournament. That prize remains the only Gold medal the Ticos have ever earned in the Pan American Surfing Games.
“My best birthday gift was to maintain my stature until the end of these Pan American Games, especially when the level was simply incredible. In addition, with this I collaborated with the team to earn a 4th place position,” said Brown, who yesterday also turned 25.
The teams award was thanks to the stellar work of everyone on the 18-member team that included Torres (Jaco), 2007 Triple Crown Champion Luis Vindas (Jaco); 2007-08 Costa Rican National Surf Champion Diego Naranjo (Jaco); 2001-02 Costa Rican National Surf Champion Gilbert Brown (Puerto Viejo); two-time Central American Women's Surf Champion Lisbeth Vindas (Jaco); 2007-08 Costa Rican National Women's Surf Champion Nataly Bernold ( Tamarindo ); 2007-08 Costa Rican National Junior Surf Champion Jairo Pérez (Jaco); 2007-08 Costa Rican National Boys Surf Champion Carlos Muñoz (Playa Esterillos); 2007-08 Costa Rican National Women's Bodyboard Champion Jimena Calvo (Boca Barranca); 2007-08 2nd Place Costa Rican National Bodyboard Champion Silvio Mangel (Limón ); José Calderón (Jaco); Orlando Solís (Jaco); and Mauricio Umaña (Jaco). Costa Rica earned a total of 20,267 points with its 4th place; Brazil was 1st with 29,992; Chile 2nd with 24,372, and Perú 3rd with 24,072.
The women on the Tico Team also saw a lot of action yesterday. While Lisbeth Vindas did not manage to classify all the way to the end of the Women's division, after placing 4th in the repercharge Finals, she contributed points and veteran experience to the other members of the group. Meanwhile, Bernold, the youngest member of the pack at 14 years and only on her third international challenge with this tournament, blew through the other country's women to Round 5 of repercharge, was strong and confident, if soft-spoken on dry land.
Bodyboarder Jimena Calvo, 17, however, was a bright new shining hope for the Costa Rican National Surf Team. After years of disappointment in this category and in the Male bodyboarder division, the Ticos saw Calvo pass all the way to the repercharge Finals, adding desperately needed points to their total. She placed 4th in that heat, and was cheered on very loudly by the blue, white and red flag-toting guys and gals on the shore.
In 2008, the Pan-American Games for the Junior category will be celebrated in Isla Margarita, Venezuela. Look for a Costa Rican National Junior Surf Team there! Meanwhile, for further details and information on the Costa Rican National Surf Team at the Panamericanos Surf Chile 2007 in Iquique , please go to www.surfingcr.net
Photos by:Philipe Demarsa Costa Rica's Gilbert Brown, far left, gets his Bronze Medal.
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Friday, November 09, 2007
Ticos Get Chilly Start To Pan Am Surf Games
By Britton Jacob-Schram of The Beach Times
Despite sincere welcomes from the mayor of Iquique, in Chile, as well as the president of the Chilean Surf Federation, the start of the eighth Annual Pan American Surf Games was marred by hostility.
The Costa Rican team has lodged an official complaint with the International Surfing Association (ISA) and the Pan American Surf Federation’s executive committee.
“There were problems in the water,” said FSC delegate Christophe “Kiki” Commarieu who had accompanied Men’s Open competitor Jason Torres down to the beach for pre-competition onsite training.
“We arrived at 9am to train and the Chilean federation denied us access to the break,” continued Mr Commarieu, adding moments later Lisbeth Vindas and the current women’s champion 14-year-old Nataly Bernold entered the water and were verbally threatened.
National junior champion and Jairo Pérez said he experienced similar hostility.
Yet regardless of the aggression, the Costa Rican team were well placed late in the week.
“Everyone has been keeping their concentration,” said Alex “Kiko” Valverde, one of two Costa Rican judges scoring the competition and working full-time with the Pan American organization.
“Jairo Pérez has been doing really well, and today [Wednesday] he won his heat against two Chileans. You could tell a lot of people on the beach were pretty upset.”
“We’re doing really well,” José Ureña, President of the Costa Rican Federación de Surf, told The Beach Times from Chile, Thursday. “Today is the third day and we still have nine of our 14 competitors.” The Chilean federation was dealt with, and what needed to be cleared up was, he said.
“Once the contest started, we cleared it to the side. Since the first day, we haven’t talked about it,” he said, adding the incident hasn’t been brought up during the nightly team meetings.
It’s better to keep the team more focused, he said — especially against powerhouse teams like Brazil.
Brazil, which is invariably number one or two in the world, he says, has been especially tough competition; though, he adds, their professionalism in and out of the water is always a pleasure to compete against.
“The Chileans are doing well, but they lost three or four people today [Thursday]. It’s their boogie division that’s their strongest — that’s where they get a lot of their points.”
He said the only problem facing the Costa Rican team has been evading exhaustion: “It’s a long contest. By the second or third day, they’ve lost — I don’t exactly know what you call it — their fire. We have to keep them on a rhythm. That’s why the meetings are so important. We have to keep reminding them of the good stuff they have, so they can apply it the next day.”
Most remedial for this are the seasoned competitors on the team, he says, making mention of Diego Naranjo and his wife Lisbeth Vindas, who posted first in a heat shared with Bernold, Wednesday.
Another veteran, he notes, is Gilbert Brown.
“He’s already in round three of his division; and he still has a really good chance of making it to the finals,” said Mr Ureña.
He said Brown has been well poised in the colder Chilean waters, which are currently between 13 to 14 degrees Celsius (about 55.4 to 57.2 degrees Fahrenheit), possibly due to the fact he’s been spending a good amount of time in California, conditioning in colder currents.
The wetsuits have not been a problem at all, according to Mr Valverde. “The water is cold but it’s nothing like how it was in Portugal.”
What Mr Valverde is referring to was how the frigid temperatures of Portugal during this year’s Junior World Surfing Championships took a solid toll on the Costa Rican team — the majority of which have been somewhat babied by the jacuzzi-like temperatures closer to the equator.
The wetsuits, too, inhibited performance, said Mr Ureña after Portugal.
However this time around, he says, the open-cell neoprene second-skin has not been obstructing the competitors’ style, nor speed.
“They’re used to them now,” explains Mr Ureña, alluding to the two-a-day practices the team endured — in full wetsuits, in Jacó — preparing for the competition.
“We’ve got a really good chance of being one of the top five teams this year,” he said.
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COSTA RICA NATIONAL SURF TEAM ARRIVES AT VIII JUEGOS PANAMERICANOS SURF CHILE 2007
FIRST DAY OF ONSITE TRAINING FOR PAN AMERICAN SURFING GAMES IN IQUIQUE, CHILE TARNISHED BY INDIVIDUALS FROM HOST TEAM, ACCORDING TO VIDEO
Official Complaint Filed Against Chile Team Today with ISA and PASA
IQUIQUE, CHILE November 4, 2007 -- In what should have been a triumphant return to the Pan American Surfing Games for Costa Rica 's 2005 Junior gold-medal winner, Jason Torres of the Costa Rican National Surfing team was instead blocked from the water Friday, November 2, and had verbal threats made against him by members of the Chilean National surf team, according to Christophe “Kiki” Commarieu, Publisher of Surfos Magazine, and a consulting member of the Federacion de Surf de Costa Rica.
At 8:45 a.m. local time yesterday, Commarieu, who had a video camera on hand to record the altercation, had been escorting Torres to the contest site of the Panamericanos Surf Chile 2007 in Iquique , where the competition is scheduled to begin on November 6, and continue until November 11.
“Jason was the first to prepare to train and I was along to video his session,” Commarieu explained by telephone yesterday. “When we arrived at the site, we were told by the surfers there, ‘We are training for Chile team.' We didn't think much of it at the time, thinking we'd wait our turn. Jason has brought along a brand new Banzaii Surfboard to give to one of the Chile surf team members, so he went back to the hotel to get the board, and I climbed out onto the rocks to prepare to video. Jason returned, and we both waiting for an hour and 20 minutes.”
At this point in time, Torres began warming up, with stretches on the beach. As he attempted, once again to enter the water, Commarieu said: “Someone came off the podium to tell him he can't go in.”
By this time Lisbeth Vindas and the Tico Team's youngest member Nataly Bernold had paddled out into the ocean. Shortly afterwards, they had to get out, and told Commarieu “they were threatened.” Diego Naranjo, the elder statesman—and Vindas' husband—intervened, and was told by the Chileans, “I'm going to put my hand in your face, motherf…” All of the Costa Rican team were spit upon, said Commarieu.
Jose Ureña, President of the Federacion de Surf de Costa Rica (FSC) joined Commarieu in attempting to calm the situation, by talking with Chilean Surf Federation President, Cristian Gonzalez, but at the time, there was no resolution.
Upon returning to the hotel, the Costa Ricans learned from the teams of Argentina , Venezuala, and Ecuador of similar harassment problems at the contest point.
“It is not even a question that our team must train for this event, which is known all over the world as coming second to the Olympics in worldwide importance in athletics,” stated Ureña. “Our team is okay, there is no problem, Everybody is confident. We are taking care of everything. It is only one or two guys who are spoiling the universal good spirit for everyone.”
Yesterday, Ureña and Commarieu made an official complaint against the Chilean surfers who harassed the Costa Rican Surf Team with the Pan American Surf Association's Executive Committee, which includes Maile Aguerre, President (she's also Vice President of the International Surfing Association [ISA]); Juca de Barros, Vice-President; Paul West, Secretary; and Marcos Bukão, Technical Director.
Fernando Aguerre, President of the ISA, who is not in Chile , sent his support to the Costa Rican team via email: “I am very sorry about what has happened. It seems to me a barbarism that the authorities of PASA allow this illegal and unacceptable attitude.”
Two years ago, in a come-from-behind, Cinderella story, that all but had Torres out from the Reef Panamericano de Surf Peru 2006 Copa Motorola, the powerhouse maintained enough focus to pull off skillful maneuvers on his last wave in the last heat of the Junior Finals to become the first Costa Rican ever to win a gold medal at a Pan-American Surfing Game. This historic moment occurred at Puntas Rocas, on the final day of the best of Latin American surfing in which all nine National Costa Rican Surf Team members worked hard to earn 4 th place overall in this Olympic-style competition.
Now, Torres, is back. And he's surfing in the Open along with Luis Vindas ( Costa Rica 's 2007 Triple Crown Champion); Diego Naranjo (2007-08 Costa Rican National Surf Champion); Gilbert Brown ( 2001-02 Costa Rican National Surf Champion); and substitute Nino Myrie (2002-03 Costa Rican National Surf Champion).
Surfing for the Costa Rican women are: Lisbeth Vindas (two-time Central American Women's Surf Champion); Nataly Bernold (2007-08 Costa Rican National Women's Surf Champion); and substitute Lupe Galluccio (2006-07 Costa Rican National Junior Women's Surf Champion).
Juniors: Jairo Pérez (2007-08 Costa Rican National Junior Surf Champion); Carlos Muñoz (2007-08 Costa Rican National Boys Surf Champion); José Calderón; Orlando Solís; and substitutes Derek Gutiérrez and Danny Bishko.
Rest of the team are: Longboard Diego Naranjo and Mauricio Umaña; Boogie: Silvio Mangel, William Fallas and substitute Richard Marín; and Boogie Women's: Jimena Calvo and substitute Dineth Arce.
The Costa Rican team will join Argentina , Aruba , Bahamas , Barbados , Brazil, Canada, Chile , Colombia , Ecuador , El Salvador , United States, Guadalupe, Guatemala , Jamaica , Mexico , Panama , Peru , Puerto Rico , Dominican Republic , Trinidad and Tobago , Uraguay and Venezuela .
For more information on the Federacion de Surf de Costa Rica , please go to www.surfingcr.net
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