Other Sport
Emslie wins Cold Water Classic
2010-07-30 12:14
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Cape Town - Greg Emslie has won the Cold Water Classic South Africa ahead of Australian, Dion Atkinson, continuing the sporting success of a nation well into 2010.
"Jordy (Smith) won the other two local events and now I've won the third," said Greg, hailing from East London. "I was thinking to myself I beat Jordy in this event, now I can't let the guy down and lose the final. We've got to keep all the trophies at home, so I'm stoked I managed to do that."
The crowds flocked to Long Beach on the Cape Peninsula to witness a South African win on home soil for the first time, cheering Greg's every wave from the shore.
"The crowd all want you to win so if you lose you feel like you've let them down," said Greg who also knocked out the in-form surfer of this event, Australian Shaun Cansdell, in the quarter-finals earlier in the day.
The local crowd might even have been hoping for an all-South African final, but it was Australian Dion Atkinson who mixed things up and gave everyone on the beach a scare as it came down to a final wave in the dying minutes for Emslie to take and secure the win.
"I felt the best I've felt all contest when I took that last wave," said Greg. "I knew I just had to go for it and I did."
However, it's not all bad news for Atkinson as he moves up to fourth position in the series ratings in the chase for the $50 000 behind Shaun Cansdell, Stuart Kennedy and in first, Royden Bryson.