Junior Barbadian Surfer Josh Burke performs outstanding at ECSC/TAUTOGS MENS PRO
Virginia Beach,Virginia
15 year old Josh Burke of Barbados placed a remarkable 2nd place in the 50th annual Coastal Edge (ECSC) East Coast Surfing Championships/TAUTOGS Mens Professional Surfing event at first street jetty. Just missing out on the wild card birth into the ASP VANS 6 star event which 1st place is awarded going to Ryan Briggs, however young Burke surfed amazing heats. He showed great wave selection and strategy while competing against adult pro surfers to advance 6 rounds after getting into the event as an alternate. “Every year the ECSC has this rule that surfers can’t enter the ASP event and the TAUTOGS pro, so when the ASP notified us that there were not enough slots. I got Josh into the Tautogs as an alternate,thankfully the first day was windy,stormy and cold therefore the odds of a surfer not showing up were good and the very first heat of the event at 7am one surfer did not show and in Josh went with 3mins notice” says his coach/manager/father Alan Burke.
However this was not the only close call as in his Semi final heat Burke and previous winner of the event top rated pro surfer Cairo Perez from Costa Rica was very close for 2nd. After the heat results were announced calling Perez 2nd and Burke 3rd in a very close fought heat, a tabulation error was spotted and Burke was actually the second place finisher and advanced to the finals. In the final 3rd place went to the informed Daniel Glenn who won the Rip Curl Gromsearch in New Smyrna Florida last weekend and the Quiksilver KOTG few weeks ago in Huntington California, 4th was Ben Powell.
The other Barbadian surfers in the event did not fair well in the stormy wind chop conditions and bowed out early. Dane Mackie and Barbados resident Josh Galt in the first round and Che Allan in the second. Burke who is sponsored by BILLABONG,EPI-DRY,LIME,REEF,X-TRAK,NIXON,FUTURES,VZ & Burkie Boards recently returned from a SURFING MAGAZINE photo trip to Nicaragua said “the conditions were very tough and varied,day one was wind chop 4ft coming in all over the place and day two was glassy 2ft, so wave selection was major. I am glad I had my dad on the beach helping me out” the young Burke said. Tomorrow he competes in the 15-17 Juniors.
Adrenaline Sun
Adrenaline Sun is a new-media action sports magazine that gets inside the world of Caribbean extreme sports to bring you every thrilling event through original content, videos, e-publications and social media. We don’t focus only on the biggest sporting events. We engage regional and international fans and athletes in key action sports niches including skateboarding, paintball, BMX, and off-roading. We also attract a highly enthusiastic local fan base that includes avid sailors, surfers and motorsports junkies.
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