O'Neill UK Surf Team Riders
Sam Lamiroy
Sam Lamiroy was the first British surfer to join the O’Neill European Team and, since signing up with O’Neill, has proved to be an incredible ambassador for the brand. Highlights of 2005 included 1st place at the O’Neill Pro, Goldcoast Oceanfest and, later in the year, 2nd place at the O’Neill British National Championships in Tynemouth. However, thanks to Sam’s irrepressible spirit of generosity, the disappointment of missing out on top spot by only ½ point didn’t prevent him signing autographs and enjoying his time with the crowds of fans and inspired kids who came to cheer him on.
In April 2006 Sam made the Brits proud by holding the 3rd highest wave score in the O’Neill Highland Open in Thurso.
Sam launched into summer riding The Cribber in Cornwall, on one of the biggest waves even seen off the British Coastline. The epic shots of Sam were shown in UK press nationwide and on the national TV news.
Ending the summer in style Sam won the Hot Tuna Summer Of ‘69 in St Agnes in August and came 17th in the World Cup of Surfing!
Most recently, November saw Sam win back his British champion title; he battled in a tough final to secure his place as Britain’s top surfer once again!
Mike Morgan
Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He lived in Northern Ireland, Australia, Wales, and Indonesia. Along with sister Nicole they are members of the Irish Surf Team and have competed at European and World level. They also compete on the BPSA Tour, in the UK.
2006 saw Mike traveling around the world training in Australia, on a vvideo & photo trip to Mentawais, then returning home for the Irish national championships. The autumn will also be busy for Mike competing in the rest of the BPSA.
Robyn Davies
5 times British Champion, Robyn ‘ Sunshine’ Davies rode her first wave at the age of 13, turned pro eight years ago and has been an O’Neill sponsored rider since 2002. After 5 years of dominating the female UK surf scene, Robyn Davies has captured 5 British Titles and her fast escalating surf career has made her a pioneer for female surfing across Europe.
2005 was a year of mixed fortunes where adventure and injury intertwined. The beginning of 2005 saw Robyn in Peru for the start of the WQS tour. From there it was onto an aeroplane to meet up with the O’Neill USA in California to test out the new season’s O’Neill wetsuits.
After work and fun with the USA crew, next stop was the warm waters of Indonesia and a magazine photo trip to the Mentawi Islands. Robyn describes the trip as one that will stay in her mind forever – a big claim from the girl whose career has taken her to every corner of the globe.
Another day, and another wave – this time in the Caribbean followed closely by the Azores where she finished her adventures on a high, riding some gnarly isolated waves.
She returned to the UK on top form and eager to throw herself into the upcoming EPSA tour - then disaster struck! A car accident left Robyn injured and unable to defend her title at the O’Neill British National Championships in Tynemouth and out for the rest of the season.
In 2006 Robyn came 17th in the World Cup of Surfing, but unfortunately due to a recurring back injury she was unable to compete in the British National Championships.
Robyn can’t wait to get out there and prove she’s still number one!
Nicole Morgan
Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She lived in Northern Ireland, Australia, Wales, and Indonesia. Along with brother Mike they are members of the Irish Surf Team and have competed at European and World level. They also compete on the BPSA Tour, in the UK.
2005 BPSA Tour winner!
2006 saw Nicole flying out to Algrave, Portugal Wavelength, and then going to Australia on a training trip meeting up with Mike and some of the other top BPSA guys. She will also be receiving more coaching from Surfing Australia’s High Performance Centre, with Sasha Stocker. August also saw Nicole win the BPSA in St Ives and she was nominated for Irish sports person of the year. Nicole is ranked 11th in Europe and is currently leading this years tour ranking hoping to defend her title.
Alex Baker
Grommet Alex’s surfing career began at the O’Neill Surf Academy at the tender age of 7. He was immediately hooked and by the age of 10 he entered his first tournament – which he won! In 2004 Alex won the UK leg of the O’Neill Grom Prix and after a 3rd placing in the ensuing Pan European final, his natural talent and enthusiasm was apparent, and was snapped up by O’Neill UK.
Highlights of 2005 included representing the UK at the King of the Groms final in Capbreton, France, 3rd in the British Nationals Under 14 and 3rd in the British Schools Championships.
In 2006 Alex got his first major title win! Alex took the under 14s British Schools title. He dominated his heats and looked very comfortable throughout the competition!
He also competed in the Fat Face BPSA event at Lusty Glaze. Winning every heat, Alex looked set to take home the trophy. Small waves made it tough for the bigger boys and Alex ended up coming 3rd.
Alex went down to the British Junior Inter club at Fistral. Croyde boys dominated the U14 final with Alex scoring 18 in each of his heats and dominating the final. Croyde never seemed likely to win, as team was under subscribed, amazingly they came second missing out by just two points.
Alex took 2nd place at the BPSA hot tuna at St. Ives. He dominated his heats and won every heat on the way to the final, he was relaxed and showed great composure
Alex’s ambition is to be the 2006 British Champion and eventually make into the WCT tour and make top 10!
Stuart Campbell
Stuart Campbell was twice British Junior Champion in 2005 Like Alex; Stuart’s introduction to surfing came courtesy of the O’Neill Surf Academy. He signed a sponsorship deal with O’Neill in 2003 and his career has continued to grow from strength to strength.
Stuart continues to win virtually every contest he enters, usually coming away with a title in older age categories as well as his own.
2005 saw Stuart surf away with numerous titles, as well as the Under 14 top spot at British Junior Surfing Championships at Widemouth Bay, Bude in September
In 2005 Stuart joined O’Neill Europe ‘rat’ team and it was recently announced that he has made the 2006 British Junior Surf team. He’ll be off to Brazil for the World Junior Surf Games to represent his country on the British squad and headed to Brazil, then off to France for a training trip with the other O’Neill groms.
On his return Stuart had major success at The British Schools. Stuart won the under 16s. Waves were small so the training in small waves paid off.
Stuart has been doing some filming with the North Devon Museums, and in
May he headed to the world games in Brazil. It was very stiff competition and unfortunately Stuart went out in the 3rd round. Although this was a heat he could have easily won, it was obviously just not meant to be. Stuarts final place was 62 out of 85. He was the highest placed Brit in the under 16.
Stuart attended the Ripcurl in June at Sennon. With great success Stuart won all of his heats, getting him through to the finals. Achieving scores of 7- 9 Stuart was a clear winner. Stuart attended the Fat Face BPSA event at Lusty Glaze. Stuart was placed second, missing out on first place by just 0.4.
In August Stuart took first place at the BPSA hot tuna at St Ives.
Stuart entered the British Billabong championships at Widemouth bay. Stuart made the final of the U16 and U18 and after three consecutive heats and 105 minutes of surfing Stuart won the U16 and came third in the U18.
Stuart is British Champion for a forth year wining the under 16s and coming 3rd in the under 18s he has come a long way this year. His surfing at Hossagor has made a big difference in his mind set. Stuart proved his fitness but his drive to win had others watching in amazement. More recently he came 5th in the Groms European tour missing out on the final by .33 of a point. This is still an improvement on last year and Stuart has taken this experience as a boost and seems much more relaxed in competition and hopes to do better next year in his final year in the age group.
Billy Norways
After returning from training in France in April, Billy competed in the Pro Juniors competition. People watched as Billy surf extremely well and deservedly he came 4th. Another success for Billy was at The British Schools, the small wave training paid off as the waves were very small, testing his power and speed, after a tough contest he came first in the under 18s category.
Billy is also competing in the BPSA tour, making the third round in Wales and Newquay and is doing well in the rankings.
He recently benefited from a training trip to Hawaii, where he surfed some big waves and got valuable experience, which Im sure we will see pay off in upcoming events.
Zoe Sheath
Zoe took Third place in the hotly contested Roxy Queen of the Groms surf contest held at Fistral beach, Newquay in June in great shoulder high surf and hot sunshine.
She also took part in the Surf training trip to Hossegor, France with several of the Best of British girls, the trip was covered by Carve and Surf Girl magazines in the August issue.
This training paid off and Zoe had a successful summer surfing at contests in Cornwall, she came third in the SAS, Aloha Cornish Open after Australian Pro surfer Darra Penfold and England’s Robyn Davies. She also came second in the Hot Tuna BPSA event and this has helped herself go higher in the BPSA ratings.
Zoe has had a good run in the last few contests of the season with 4 consecutive wins, British juniors, IOW Surf club Women’s and Under 18’s open and now the BPSA.
This year Zoe won her first BPSA event, putting her second in the Under 16 girls British ratings, She still has two years left to compete in this age group and cant wait until next year to try to take the title.
Gracie Davies
At the age of 15 Gracie was the first girl to surf the sands reef in St Queens bay in Jersey, making a little bit of history. Now 17 Gracie is now one of the best long boarders on the circuit coming first in the ladies category of the British long board union series after winning several of the series events.
Recently Gracie spent a week down in Hossegor with Gabe Davies and Joel Gray training with the British girls, including two other O’Neill girls, Tassie Swallow and Zoe Sheath. She enjoyed herself and learned a lot. Gracie also travelled to Canada for four weeks for fitness training.
This training proved beneficial for Gracie as her success at the British Schools in 2006 proved. She competed in three events winning the under 18s girls body board category and coming 3rd in the long board, making her the highest placed girl.
Snow Team - boys
Tim Warwood and Adam Gendle
Tim and Gend continue to be great ambassadors for the O’Neill brand, travelling the world making films – both behind the lens and in front of it. They have been involved with several extreme sports TV programs and the filming of the highly acclaimed British snowboard film ‘Bad Ass Big Airs’. Their presence in the British filming scene means that they are the best-known and well-liked snowboarders in the UK. So far in 2006 the pair have competed in the Pro-Test Jib Vid in Tignes, where Gendle took first place for the third time in a row and Tim took second just behind him, following that, Tim came second in the Red Bull Hike and Ride in Switzerland. The pair have spent many months filming footage for their 2006 film SHOWOFFS which launches in October and will be the biggest snowboard DVD ever to be launched in the UK. This year both Tim and Gend were credited as ambassadors for Redbull, joining them on their winter trip in Russia. 2006 has been an incredible year for both Tim and Gend as both were chosen to present programs on major UK TV channel 4.
Tim and Gend continue to be great ambassadors for the O’Neill brand, travelling the world making films – both behind the lens and in front of it. They have been involved with several extreme sports TV programs and the filming of the highly acclaimed British snowboard film ‘Bad Ass Big Airs’. Their presence in the British filming scene means that they are the best-known and well-liked snowboarders in the UK. So far in 2006 the pair have competed in the Pro-Test Jib Vid in Tignes, where Gendle took first place for the third time in a row and Tim took second just behind him, following that, Tim came second in the Red Bull Hike and Ride in Switzerland. The pair have spent many months filming footage for their 2006 film SHOWOFFS which launches in October and will be the biggest snowboard DVD ever to be launched in the UK. This year both Tim and Gend were credited as ambassadors for Redbull, joining them on their winter trip in Russia. 2006 has been an incredible year for both Tim and Gend as both were chosen to present programs on major UK TV channel 4.
Snow Team - girls
Laura Berry
2005 saw Laura Berry promoted to the O’Neill European Rookie Team. Having finished school Laura is now a full time pro-snowboarder and as British Champion can start testing hers skills at international contests. Laura’s ability has wowed the industry and we are looking forward to seeing her growth. So far 2006 has been successful for Laura claiming 6th place in the Roxy Chicken Jam, and 1st place for her slopestyle and 3rd for her Boardercross in both the British Indoor championships and the Orange British Championships.
