Miles Lee-Hargreaves and Emily Williams win latest wave pool comp

The Uk’s only wave pool contest stoked surf fans and curious onlookers deep in the Conwy Valley in Northern Wales, as the UK Pro Surf Tour held it’s annual Surf Snowdonia Pro Surf Challenge.

Touted as hosting the UK’s best surfers, the unique inland surf competition went off against a backdrop of the Conwy Valley’s forests and mountains, in the world’s first commercial surf-specific wave pool, Surf Snowdonia.

Bude-based surfer Miles Lee-Hargreaves triumphed in the men’s competition, with Patrick Langdon-Dark taking second place. The first prize in the women’s competition went to Emily Williams, from Newport, with last year’s champion Emily Currie coming in second.

As it is the only inland stop on the UK Pro Surf Tour local knowledge – those who have trained at the sometimes tricky wave, had a distinct advantage.

The wave pool contest event format saw the lowest seeds go first, digging into the Wavegarden Cove technology. Surfers caught a practice left and then three scoring rights. The best right counted toward advancing their cause. From there the eight male surfers with the highest single wave total advanced to the ominously named “knock-out stage.”

From there it was head-to-head heats to advance into the semis, and ultimately to the finals. Surfers who made it from the knock-out stage on up to the final, all earned prize money.

The Surf Snowdonia Pro Surf Challenge is one of the more popular UKPSA events on tour with a live broadcast to more than 300,000 viewers on social media and a social “reach” of more than half a million.

“We’re so excited it was broadcast live this year,” said Lizzi Pepper, the Events and Promotions Coordinator at Surf Snowdonia. “It’s a great chance for everyone to see Surf Snowdonia at it’s best and watch some amazing surfing.”