Cavan surfers sought for 'All Ireland' competition

Seamus Enright Moves are afoot to put together a Cavan team for the upcoming Rossnowlagh Intercounties Surf Championship, to take place over the weekend of October 13/14. Now in its 43rd year, the prestigious competition is described as the All Ireland of surfing. While surfers from across the country will battle it out on the waves at the picturesque Donegal village beach, the annual anyone-can-have-a-go event sees as much emphasis placed on watching and socialising as in the taking part. Each team must be represented by a minimum of three to four surfers, and takes part across a number of surfing disciplines, from short to long boards. Each event offers a chance to earn valuable points for your respective county. The competition is open to surfers of all ages, male or female. The first round sees the top eight teams, not surprisingly from the coastal areas such as Clare, Mayo, Sligo, Waterford and of course Donegal, seeded for qualification into the quarter finals. It is a competition which in recent years has been dominated by those coastal counties. The person behind organising the Breffni county's involvement in the event is Anthony Keaney, from Dowra, a surf instructor with surf-champion Richie Fitzgerald's Surf World in Bundoran. Anthony, who recently featured in the pages of this newspaper is encouraging Cavan locals with a passion for surfing to get involved in next week's event. "It'll be a laugh, with lots of good people," enthused Anthony, "and how many times can you say, unless you're playing GAA or another sport, that you've represented your county? "I've been told that at one stage in the past Cavan did have a team but I've found no record of it, so it'll be historic as well to have the blue and white represented on the beach at Rossnowlagh on October 13/14." Anyone interested in taking part in the event and represent the county is asked to contact Anthony on 086 2655 564. To whet your appetite, check out this guy catching some waves in Rossnowlagh;