Scotland have placed a historic 7th place at the ESF European Junior Surfing Championships in Bundoran, Ireland which took place between the 24th of September and the 4th of October 2026.
The result is the best international placing for a Scottish team junior or senior in history with Scotland placing just behind the more established surfing nations.
Many of the Scottish athletes progressed through rounds but it was Callie Cruickshank (SCO) who impressed the most and made it all the way to Repechage Round 5 of the U16 girls with some impressive backhand surfing at ‘the Peak’, several double figure heat totals and narrowly missing out on progressing further against a talented field of surfers. It would ultimately be two French girls who would eliminate Callie in her last heat which came down to the wire and she missed out on progressing by less than a point with a 12.64pts heat total.
Full results from the event can be found at the following link:
https://eurosurfjunior26.eurosurfing.org/results
and highlights video from the final day:
Scotland Team Captain Charlie Pugh has given us his run down on the event;
“The Eurosurf junior championships 2026 was an incredible event and was ever more special as it was my last junior event. As a team we finished 7th place meaning our best turnout yet by a good shot. Placing this high really shows that Scotland can come to these events and really put some numbers up and compete against the bigger countries.
Throughout the event the team as a whole bonded so much. It was incredible to be part of that, watch all the heats and all support each other. We wanted to be there for each other at both highs and lows during the competition. Big shoutout to the coaches, team manager, filmer and all others that helped us as a team get to the point we are now.
We scored 2 weeks of pumping waves to which some days were a lot more windy and rainy than others but great waves to say the least. With it being held in Ireland the Scottish team felt more at home in the conditions we were presented with.
Throughout the event we made good friends with many people from the other European teams.
Being able to represent my country in a sport I love has always been a major goal of mine which I have been able to accomplish a few times now and will be forever grateful to those who have made it possible.”
