- The event will bring together some of the best professionals in the world of surfing on October 4-7 in Jacó Beach
- The event’s prize pool will amount to a total of $40,000
Some of the world’s highest-ranked surfers will be competing in Costa Rica at one of the stops of the World Surf League (WSL). The event, whose official name is Essential Costa Rica Surf Pro, will be held in our country on October 4-7 at Jacó Beach with backing from WSL North America and the producer, RPM TV. The event has also been endorsed by the Federación de Surf de Costa Rica.
The WSL event will be held in Costa Rica with the world qualification series (QS) 1,500-point event. It will be stop number 52 for the men and 42 for the women, who have been competing throughout 2018 with the aim of obtaining the most points for the 2019 World Championship Tour.
“We are very proud to be able to bring together the best professional surfers in the world in such a high-caliber event. We have been working hard for two years, since we had an international amateur event in our country. Now, being able to have a WSL event commits us to redoubling our efforts”, said Manrique Mata, President of RPM TV.
Holding this competition in Costa Rica represents a great opportunity for the highest ranked Costa Ricans to participate, as well as allowing some surfers who are not in the general group to take part without leaving the country. Currently, the highest ranked surfers in their respective QS tours are Carlos Muñoz (ranked 39th), Noe Mar McGonagle (ranked 53rd) and Tomas King (ranked 139th) in the men’s group, as well as Brisa Hennessy (ranked 10th) and Leilani McGonagle (ranked 18th) in the women’s group. They will all have a place among the challenging waves of Jacó, though not all have confirmed.
The Costa Ricans currently signed up are: Rubiana Brownell, Paulina Summers, Coral Araya Wiggins and Eva Luna Woodland, in the women’s event; while Leo Calvo, Aldo Chirinos, Anthony Fillingim, Tomas King and Malakai Martínez are taking part in the men’s event.
WSL will be providing a total of 5 wildcards, three for men and two for women. With this in mind, RPM TV will be giving one from each category to the Federación de Surf de Costa Rica for the national-level champions, with three up for grabs before the event.
The manager of the North America tour, Brian Robbins, has seen the progress in Costa Rican surfing and has been a witness of how the discipline has continued to grow exponentially, especially among women, providing surfers with the opportunity of doing what they love on an international stage after beginning in their countries of origin.
“We are very happy to be coming back to Costa Rica. It will be great to help the entire organization to work on this event and observe how surfing will continue to provide even more opportunities in the future”, Robbins said.
One of the most outstanding aspects of this event is the support and vote of confidence given by the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT) as an official sponsor of this stop on the WSL circuit in Costa Rica.
“For ICT, it is an honor to support these kinds of initiatives, which support sports and tourism. Year after year, our country has been receiving international recognition for our excellent waves, spectacular beaches and unique backdrop for this sporting discipline. This event will allow us to show the world the essence of a country that promotes sustainable practices that generate an economic impact for communities”, said Alberto López, ICT General Manager.
This event will be completely free for fans of the sport and the general public, since one of the goals is to bring tourism to the region throughout the entire weekend.
Approximately 112 athletes will participate in Essential Costa Rica Surf Pro according to their ranking, 72 men and 40 women. The complete list will be released on September 18, the date on which registration closes.
About WSL
The World Surf League (WSL) is the entity organizing the annual tour of professional surfers.
The professional surfing’s first governing body, International Professional Surfers, was founded in 1976 and led by the Hawaiian surfers, Fred Hemmings and Randy Rarick. The next evolution was to the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP), founded in 1983 by Ian Cairns, which, in the 1990s, gave rise to the company philosophy of “the world’s best surfers, the world’s best waves”. In 2015, the ASP was officially turned into the World Surf League.
The WSL broadcasts live events over its webpage, www.worldsurfleague.com.
