PLAYA DE RAZO, A Coruna, Galicia – Spain (Sunday, August 5, 2012) - Ramzi Boukhiam (MAR) and Maud Le Car (FRA) have won the inaugural WAHRLD Pro Junior at Playa de Razo, A Coruna – Galicia. With 2-3Ft windblown waves on offer today, both surfers managed to find the best scoring potentials in a complicated line-up, and performed the highest level of Junior surfing we have seen all year. Cannelle Bulard (REU), placed second in the Women’s event and secured her maiden European Junior Champion Title in the process.
Ramzi Boukhiam (MAR) 18, was the strongest competitor in Galicia today and came out on top of an amazing final that saw all four surfers go wave for wave and steal the heat lead from each other up until the last minutes of their exchange. Boukhiam with a two-wave heat total of 16.84 out of 20 put on an extremely convincing performance in the final.
“I’m so stoked to have won that event, I think this qualifies me for the World Juniors and I’m super happy !” stated Boukhiam. “I was in the final with Vasco, Frederico and Kieran, all excellent surfers, Vasco is the rankings leader.. They’re all really good friends of mine, Kieran impressed me he had a great wave in the 8 point range and I actually got scared at that point !”
The Moroccan native had a stellar year so far on the Junior series, placing third in the opening 3-Star event in the Canary Islands, winning the inaugural Pro Junior event in Royan and finishing fifth in Sopelana. This result takes him right into pole position on the European rankings and allows him to eye a potential Regional Title in the final event of the season in Lacanau.
“I’m super happy, I had so much fun ! I want to thank my mom, my brother, all my familly for their support, Yannick, Micky and Patrick for always boosting me, Dimitri who’s always by my side, my Dad watching me from up there and off course my sponsors Quiksilver and Pukas. I’m stoked ! I’ll be in Lacanau next week, I have four days to rest and train again and I’ll be competing in both the Junior and main event.”
In a one-way final, Maud Le Car (FRA) 20 dominated her opponents and finally won her first event this season after two second places in the last two events. The Saint-Martin Island surfer stepped it up today in the final heat of the event netting the second best heat total of the entire competition, an excellent 16.06 out of 20.
“I’m super happy,” Le Car said. “I had some good waves, and earned the scores I needed, that’s a great victory for me ! I worked hard this season I always wanted that first place and up until now it slipped through my fingers and I got second so it feels amazing to finally get that first !”
Le Car quickly opened her wave account with a great right-hander that she surfed smartly, exploiting every sections and displaying her best surfing abilities in the bumpy line-up. After consistantly outperforming the other surfers in all previous heats, Le Car kept just enough energy to let herself go in the final and come out on top.
“That was by far the best conditions we’ve had all year on the Junior Tour and I felt really confident. With the Title race pretty much done, I felt like I could just relax and surfed better ! You know without pressure it really is easier to perform your best surf. There’s one more event in Lacanau and I’ll just keep pushing for one more victory !”
Cannelle Bulard (REU) 18, despite placing second in the WAHRLD Pro Junior, had an enough lead on the Regional rankings to be crowned the 2012 ASP European Junior Champion today. Bulard, who’s been a dominant competitor in Galicia for the past four days, unfortunately couldn’t keep up with her friend Le Car’s rythmn in the final heat of the event.
“I heard the news that I just won the European Champ’ Title so to be honest a second place is well enough for me right now !” an ecstatic Bulard said. “I’m stoked, I’m starting to surf well again and I felt like I had lost it a little bit, now there’s one more event in Lacanau and that one has always been tough for me so I’m going there to try and break the bad spell and have a revenge on Maud !”
Missing out on the World Junior Championships last year in Lacanau after an early defeat, the yound Reunion Island born has now secured her ticket to the Elite Junior World Tour and is ready to take on the World’s Best in fantastic destinations like Australia, Bali and Brazil.
“I’m so looking forward to competing in such iconic locations, this will be my first time and I’ll try to do everything I can to bring back the Title to France and Reunion Island like some of my friends did in the past.”
Cannelle’s older brother Kieran Bulard (REU) 20, also placed second today in the high scoring final where he had one good score and was long to find a decent backup. With patience and maturity, Bulard waited for a long right-hander which he destroyed with a flawless backhand attack to score an excellent 8.83 out of 10.
“That heat started pretty bad for me,” Bulard said. “It took me a while before I could find a good wave, but then I had a bomb and I did a big first turn but unfortunately fell right after. This just really woke me up and I found that left that was so good. From then on I had a couple good waves, specially that fun right with a hollow reform in the shorebreak !”
Bulard, who has been struggling to find his rythmn in the Pro Junior events this year, already showed signs of a new found form last week in Sopelana, and today confirmed he is one to be reckoned with for the last event of 2012. He now sits fifth on the regional rankings and could potentially grab the last qualifying spot for the World Juniors with a strong result in Lacanau.
“I’ve never surfed a final this is my first so I’m stoked ! I couldn’t actually believe I was in the final with those guys but once I was out there I started thinking I could actually do it, and that second place is a really good result for me. Coming in though, I just learned that another friend of ours has just been attacked by a shark in St-Leu today, and I want to say that my thoughts are with everyone at home in Reunion Island, we have a serious situation there and soon enough we won’t be able to surf anymore this is really sad and I hope people are going to act to prevent this. On a lighter note I also have a thought for my girlfriend, it’s actually her brthday today !”
The 2012 Wahrld Pro Junior was scheduled from August 2-5 in A Coruna. For all results, photos, video highlights, press releases log on to
The Wahrld Pro Junior is made possible with the support of the following event partners: WAHRLD, Concello de Coruna, Wahr, Cabreiroa, Vazva amongst others.
WAHRLD PRO JUNIOR MEN’S FINAL RESULTS:
1 – Ramzi Boukhiam (MAR) 16.84 2 – Kieran Bulard (REU) 15.60 3 - Frederico Morais (PRT) 14.33 4 - Vasco Ribeiro (PRT) 13.96
WAHRLD PRO JUNIOR WOMEN’S FINAL RESULTS:
1 - Maud Le Car (FRA) 16.06 2 - Cannelle Bulard (REU) 12.60 3 - Leticia Canales Bilbao (EUK) 9.14 4 - Loiola Canales Bilbao (EUK) 4.97
