Glenn Eldridge wins a challenging Icon Classic of Surfski

One week ago it was held at the British coast the Icon Classic of surfski. Usually conceived as a 16 km. downwind race from Morte Point to Combe Martin, this time the bad weather conditions that have been on the British Islands during the beginning of the summer forced the organization to make a big change on the race course. 7 metres waves at Morte Point definitely were not safe for padlers, so it was decided then to make a round course with start and finish at Combe Martin.That meant an 8 km. upwind fighting agiants waves of "just" 3 or 4 metres, then U turn and another 8 km. downwind back to the finish line.

About 50 braves took the start, with a high level field including former Marathon World Champion Ivan Lawler, Simon Dark or current National Team members, case of Ben Farrell, for instance. After one hour and sicten minutes of epic paddling, victory was claimed by Glenn Eldridge, who got a few seconds advantage over Ben Farrel. Two minutes later, the third position came to Portuguese from Setúbal Luis Ventura, who left behind the Spanish specialist José Antonio Girón and th race chairman Mark Ressel, fourth and fifth overall. Jenna Ferris was the first lady, leaving behind the former winner Chloe Bunnett.


Here you can check the overall standings:

1          Glenn Eldridge          01:16:01

2          Ben Farrell     01:16:50

3          Luis Vertura   01:18:53

4          Jose Antonio Giron    01:19:43

5          Mark Ressel   01:20:26

6          Jim Ross/Scott Hynds           01:20:54

7          Daniel Latham           01:21:02

8          Jordan Roberts          01:21:24

9          Michael Wright/Tom Daniels          01:23:24

10       Graham O'Regan       01:24:24

11       Simon Garbett           01:24:58

12       Ivan Lawler    01:25:31

13       Colin Smith    01:25:58

14       Andy Byatt     01:27:20

15       Jack Staddon  01:27:45

16       Ian Timbrell   01:28:10

17       Dave Maritz   01:28:32

18       Piran Shelley/Tristram Turner       01:29:35

19       Paul Kingman/Philip Nye    01:29:37

20       Simon Dark    01:29:38

21       Tarryn Brown            01:29:50

22       Richard Lewis            01:31:32

23       Jenna Ferris   01:32:37

24       Andy Parritt   01:33:13

25       Chole Bunnett           01:34:36

26       Juan Carlos Sanchez 01:35:19

27       Gregory Pienaar        01:37:37

28       Kennith Loftus          01:37:47

29       Ian Robinson 01:39:10

30       Nick East        01:39:45

31       Nick Hibberd 01:40:48

32       Stu Sherman  01:41:28

33       Simon Lawrence        01:41:39

34       Ivan Goddlington      01:42:49

35       Rob Knott       01:43:18

36       Scooby Larke 01:44:12

37       Paul Enock     01:46:37

38       Joe Wall          01:51:21

39       Freddie Hedger         01:52:12

40       Chris Gratton 01:54:22

41       Kent Perry     02:04:29

42       James Bunney           02:11:40

43       Andrew Phillips         02:12:14

44       Richard Folland         02:18:02

45       Mark Henry   02:27:50

Richard England/Elvis Jacks            DNF

Glen Parry      DNF

John Horsfall  DNF