Girl, 15, has Great Britain surfing competition ruined by ‘abusive’ older men on waves

A young surfer is in ‘shock’ after a group of older men crashed her national competition and allegedly swore at her.

The unnamed girl was in a group of nine young surfers ‘ripping’ in huge waves as they competed in a semi-finalof the GB Cup off the coast of Scotland.

But their heat was abandoned when a group of ‘free’ surfers paddled in on the rip tide blessing the three-day competition in Thurso in Caithness.

It was alleged they became verbally abusive and one of them collided with one of the younger competitors in the water.

Police were called and had to separate the older men with video appearing to show them being led away on Sunday.

No arrests have been made.

Wavelength surfing magazine contacted one of the alleged surfers in the water at the same time at the cup.

He protested his innocence, saying: ‘I was surfing the second peak and ended up colliding with someone.

‘I hadn’t done anything wrong and saw people arguing, so I paddled in.’

Mr Harris, one of the coaches of the Channel Island’s nine-strong home nation team that travelled to Thurso, said: ‘She was very shocked.

‘She’s one of the three young Jersey girls who were in home nation squad on one of their first major competitions and were very taken back by the scenes that they witnessed.’

He added: ‘I’m personally very angry. It’s not good for competitive surfing.’

GB Surfing board member Arlene Maltman told BBC News her job was to’ensure women get the best equal treatment in their aspirations’.

‘Verbal abuse at young female athletes is unacceptable in surfing and unacceptable in society.

‘The incident has stolen their chance to shine,’ she added.

Will Nelson, GB Surfing’s Head of Operations, said: ‘We understand that there is a police investigation proceeding into an alleged incident of abuse towards competitive surfers by ‘free’ surfers, initially directed towards female competitors in the GB Cup.

‘The board of GB Surfing is deeply concerned by the news of the incident, which has brought the event to an abrupt end.

‘We recognise that surfers in the final will be disappointed by the premature termination of the competition following an incident but we are grateful to the event delivery team for acting promptly and their cooperation with the police in this matter.’

Police Scotland said it received a report of abusive behaviour in the area of Thurso East at about 3.45pn on Sunday.

A spokesperson said: ‘Officers attended and no injuries were reported. Inquiries are ongoing.’

The semi-finals will be rescheduled, GB Surfing said.

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