B.C. surfers head to Peru hoping to qualify for 2019 Pan-Am Games
Unfunded but undaunted, 17 Canadian surfers — more than half of them B.C. residents — are flying to Lima, Peru, on Thursday on their own dime in hopes of qualifying to represent Canada internationally at the 2019 Pan American Games and perhaps even the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The 17 male and female surfers are competing in preliminary events leading up to the two big international games, where surfing is being recognized as a sport for the first time in both competitions.
The official Olympic qualifying teams won’t be known until early 2018.
Surf Canada president Dom Domic said the 17 surfers competing in four categories (plus three officials and six support members) bound for Peru must fund their flights and registration fees. After the Canadian contingent’s arrival, food, accommodation, and transport are covered by event organizers.
It’s a familiar story for athletes seeking financial support for a new Olympic sport, Domic said.
Surf Canada is accepted by the Canadian Olympic Committee and is now working toward compliance with Sport Canada, the federal funding agency.
“It’s all still volunteer. No one is getting paid,” he said.
Only short-board surfing is recognized in the coming Olympics and is scored based on technique and tactics, with surfers competing head-to-head and the winner advancing to the next round, he said.
Domic noted Canada is a small player on the international surf scene due to lack of easy access to surfing locales. Unlike ice rinks for hockey players in B.C., surf is available to limited enthusiasts in only a few places — Tofino and Ucluelet, mainly, but also Sooke and Port Renfrew.
Surf can also be found in Haida Gwaii and more remote parts of the B.C. coast.
“Our homegrown talent pool is very, very shallow,” Domic said. “We’re probably one of the smallest, if not the smallest surfing nation, with coastline.”
Canada is ranked 11th in the world in surfing, he added.
Competing in the Olympics is no easy matter. He said just 20 men and 20 women globally will compete in surfing, with the hope that Canada can qualify one in each category.
Tofino’s Michael Darling, one of nine B.C. surfers headed to Peru, hopes greater recognition of the nascent Olympic sport will provide a solid organizational framework for funding of athletics into the future, just like the more established sports.
“In comparison to snowboard and ski teams, I feel there is very little recognition of surfing,” he said.
Other B.C. surfers headed to Peru include: Catherine Bruhwiler (part of a famous surfing family), Noah Cohen, Kalum Temple, and Mathea and Sanoa Olin, all from Tofino; Hanna Scott and Lise Richard of Victoria; and Kristy Wright of Vancouver.
Domic said young Canadian surfers to watch in the future include Mathea Olin, one of the world’ top-10 junior surfers, and Cody Young of Toronto, who lives in Maui and captured bronze at the world junior championships.