Charles Martin defeats Romain Cloitre to claim Relentless Energy Drink Boardmasters Title
Guadeloupe’s Charles Martin took out the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 6-Star Relentless Energy Drink Boardmasters in association with Vans after getting the better of Reunion Island’s Romain Cloitre in the final that went down at Fistral Beach
in Newquay, England, on Thursday, August 9.
It turned out to be an exciting battle, with both the surfers putting on an impressive display of skills, but in the end the defending champion Cloitre just could not keep Martin from walking away with the win.
“I am really happy. I am over the moon,” began Martin. “It was a quick comp but a long one surfing many times a day. I didn’t expect this and I came here hoping to pass some heats and now this. It has been a hard two years for me and I hope to come back
like this with my first win on the Star tour and I hope not the last. I am going to try and build my seeding and try to be as high on the ranking as possible and hopefully qualify with this first step.”
Both the surfers had been exhibiting a solid performance over the last few days, managing to hold their own against some pretty solid talent from around the globe to gradually and steadily progress through the competition.
Defeating an in-form Felipe Toledo from Brazil earlier in the day was just what Martin needed as a huge confidence booster while setting his foot in the final to take on the defending event champion.
With two-to-three foot waves breaking at Fistral Beach, the stage was set for a thrilling climax to what had been an enthralling week featuring plenty of exquisite performances.
As the final got underway, Cloitre got off to a solid start and continued the momentum as the heat continued to eventually register a couple of good waves, consequently reaching a heat-total of 12.60 points.
Martin trailed behind his rival for most part of the heat, but eventually stepped up in the final minutes to collect a 7.17 and 8.50-point ride in the dying minutes of the heat to finish with a heat-total of 15.67 points.
The superb last-minute effort by the 22-year-old Martin earned him top honours while forcing Cloitre to settle for a runner-up finish.
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