MILTOWN MALBAY surfer Katie Lodge emerged victorious in the Women’s division at the Irish Surfing Student Intervarsity Nationals Competition held in Aughris Co. Sligo at the beginning of March.
The competition held over two days on March 1st and 2nd was organised by Irish Surfing, and co-hosted by ATU Sligo Surf Club and brought together 130 student surfers from eighteen universities, from across the island of Ireland. The competition aimed to foster a fun competitive spirit with huge amounts of camaraderie within the Irish surfing community.
Representing the University of Limerick and West Coast Surf Club, Katie navigated through three challenging rounds to secure the win against a competitive field, showcasing her skill in the favourable two to three foot wave conditions.
Katie started surfing at the age of seven as a way to spend time with her dad who is also an avid surfer. Katie spent the majority of her weekends and evenings as a child learning to surf with her father along the Clare coast. She began competing when she was 16, after earning strong results in her first few competitions, Katie started receiving formal coaching from Ollie O’Flaherty with West Coats Surf Club. As her skills improved Katie then went on to represent Ireland in the 2023 Junior World Surfing Championships held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Now in her first year at UL studying Architecture, Katie doesn’t get to surf as much as she used to as she is living on campus. Since moving to Limerick Katie has joined the UL Surf Club. She explained that the club has helped her to meet new people and has kept her interested in surfing.
“It’s a great way to meet like-minded people and continue to improve my skills. I think most people that join the surf club have come to college and they want to try something new and surfing is a really fun sport that not many people get to try on their own so the surf club gives them that opportunity.”
Although Katie may not have as much time as she would like to practice surfing, she has said that she would like to continue to surf whenever she can both for fun and in competitions.
“It has always been and will always be a fun hobby, but I want to keep competing because competitions are a great way to keep you focused and they make me want to keep improving.”
The event originally due to take place in Strandhill, Co Sligo had to be relocated to Aughris, Co Sligo due to a very large swell with waves of 10-15ft rolling into the small Sligo village.
The competition’s success was bolstered by the excellent wave conditions at Aughris, providing an ideal platform for participants to demonstrate their talents.
