Roxy rider Candice O’Donnell won the British Women’s Longboarding Championship last weekend in St Ouen’s Jersey in some pretty testing conditions.

Having already won the English title earlier in the season, Candice was looking for a win in Jersey and had been training hard. With dropping swell on Friday, the contest was postponed ’til Saturday with the promise of more waves on the outgoing tide.

The ladies finals were run in extremely tricky conditions, with 1-2 feet of close-out surf, the heat was put on hold twice having already started due to a thick sea-mist that had drifted over. This made it hard for the judges to see the competitors, and also broke any rhythm the competitors had built up in the heat. The mist soon passed and the heat was back on with 8 minutes to go. No pressure then!

Competitors had to be pretty quick out there, fitting in a manoeuvre right on the take off and back quickly for a floater to finish, due to the quick close outs. Having managed to get a good first wave in at the start of the heat, and another at the end of the heat with five minutes remaining, Candice secured first place.

Candice was overjoyed at the victory: “I am so pleased to have won the British title, as this was one of my goals for 2008 along with the English title. A great win for me to come home to after just having competed at the World’s in France a week before,” she said.