SURFING: Disappointment for Martin and John in Sligo

The event, which was run by the County Sligo Surf Club, attracted a large entry in all divisions which set up for a competitive event.

This was the third event on the Irish Circuit, a points and Irish Team selection event for forthcoming Senior Teams travelling to Peru and Spain for the World Championships.

Surfing began on saturday morning with both Portrush lads progressing through day one and into the Semi Final stages and into Sunday.

With smaller conditions on day two both Martin and John found it hard to get any real momentum built up and unfortunately both lads made an early event exit missing out on thier usual finals births and the loss of valuable Irish Team and Irish title points.

"We were a fairly gutted traveling home on the Sunday afternoon with no silverware," Martin told Times Sport.

"The surf was pretty small and weak on Saturday, which made it hard to get any good scoring rides. We can still collect some good points with a good showing at the Easkey Open Contest at the start of October. We both have the Portrush Open event run by the Causeway Coast Surf Club on September 25 and 26, which is now a non-point event so this can be a good warm up for October.

"Let's hope we have some good size swell for the Portrush contest, as it was cancelled a few months ago due to minimal conditions."

The boys wish to express their thanks to the guys at The Portrush Playhouse Complex for thier support and sponsorship, and for their support of local surfing.