Barbados will be represented by six of its finest surfers at the upcoming Pan American Surfing Games slated to be held in Santa Catalina, Panama from April 20-30.
Leading the charge are Barbados’ top ranked international surfers, Joshua Burke and Chelsea Tuach, who both ended the 2022/2023 World Surf League Qualifying Series with a regional ranking of 6 out of over 200 of the region’s best surfers. They will be joined by Jacob Burke, Che Allan, Kai St George and Chelsea Roett.
Both Joshua Burke and Chelsea Tuach earned Barbados’ first silver medals in surfing at the CAC Beach Games held in Santa Marta, Colombia in November last year and are looking to go one better in Panama. They also ended the season as champions of the Open Men’s and Open Women’s Divisions of the local Surfer of the Year Series and as Barbados’ National Open Men’s and Women’s Champions.
Burke is coming off his strongest World Surf League competitive season with a 4th place finish at the WSL 1000 Outer Banks Pro, a 5th at the WSL 3000 Pismo Beach Pro and a 2nd place finish at the recently concluded WSL 5000 Barbados Surf Pro.
Tuach has also had a commendable season with three (3) quarter final finishes at the WSL 3000 Virginia Surf Pro, the Super Girl Pro held at Oceanside, California and the Super Girl Pro held in Jacksonville, Florida and also reached the quarter finals at WSL 1000 event held in the Outer Banks. She was 9th at the Barbados Surf Pro.
Meanwhile, Chelsea Roett is enjoying a career high ranking of 14 in the WSL North American Region after quarter final finishes at the WSL 3000 Virginia Beach Surf Pro and the WSL 1000 WRV Outer Banks Pro. She also had a commendable 4th place finish at the CAC Beach Games and ended as the second-best female surfer in both the local Surfer of the Year Series and the National Championships.
Joshua’s younger brother, Jacob Burke, has been training hard and has been putting in some strong performances both locally and overseas. He ended the Barbados Surfing Association’s 2022 Surfer of the Year Series as the number 2 ranked surfer in the Open Men’s Division and number 3 ranked surfer in the Longboard Division. He won the 2023 Barbados Surf Trials earning a ranking of number 2 on the National Open Surf Team. He also ended a commendable 9th place at the CAC Beach Games.
Both Che Allan and Kai St. George also had successful seasons on the local surf circuit. Allan placed 3rd in the Barbados Open Men’s National Championships, won the first Barbados Surf Team Trial and placed 2nd in the 2023 Surfer of the Year events 1 and 2.
For his part, Kai St. George, who is the youngest member of the team at 17, has had considerable success in both the Shortboard and Longboard Divisions. Internationally, he was the second-best surfer at the Blue Moon Longboard Open held in New Jersey, USA last September and locally, he placed 4th in the Barbados Open Men’s National Shortboard Championships and 4th in the Open Men’s Division of the 2022 Surfer of the Year Series and 2nd in the Under 18 Division. He was crowned Longboard National Champion and Champion of the 2022 Surfer of the Year Longboard Division.
Both Jacob Burke and Kai St; George will be doing double duty in Panama, competing in both the Shortboard and Longboard Divisions.
“This is certainly one of the strongest contingents to represent Barbados at an international team event. The Pan American Surfing Games mean a lot to these six surfers as a qualifying event for the Pan American Games to be held in Santiago, Chile in November this year. The Pan Am Games are in turn a qualifier for the Paris 2024 Olympics. Our goal is to get all six surfers to finish in the top 8 of their respective Divisions as this will qualify them for the Pan Am Games. A top 10 finish will also qualify our best male and female surfers for the CAC Games to be held in El Salvador at the end of June,” said Team Manager, Margot Tuach. The team will also be accompanied by National Surf Coach and former surf champion, Alan Burke and Head judge, Elvis Carter, who has been selected as part of the international panel of judges.
The Pan American Games will kick off with the Opening Ceremony on April 20th, followed by the start of competition on April 21. (PR)
