Britain's beer-guzzling surf dudes

By Sarah Getty, Metro

Last updated at 12:43 08 May 2007


It can take years of dedication to reach the pinnacle of your sport. You train for hours every day, spend years honing your body and battle through countless competitions to give you that edge.

Well, not always. Just ask three fag smoking, beer swilling layabouts who are about to take on the world's finest surfers in the world championships.

Mark 'Crolfy' Craze, Tim 'Goofy' Bawden and Andrew 'Whiffy' Whitworth are British champions, believe it or not. But they have never trained or even entered the gym, and only occasionally practise their sport.

Nevertheless, they have all been accepted into the Hawaii contest after starting a body surfing competition 12 years ago in their home town of St Agnes, Cornwall.

They have all won the tournament, run annually for about 30 friends, and claimed the British title - but that's because it's the only body surfing competition in the country.

'It's just a bit of fun,' said pub owner Goofy, 37. 'Most people will be the bronze Adonis type. We are going to turn up with beer guts in tow.' They might be a little older than their competitors, and nowhere near as fit, but the trio insist they will train hard.

But, so far, Goofy's only gesture towards good health has been to switch to 'light' cigarettes, while 39-year-old Whiffy is practising holding his breath in the bath. Oh, and Crolfy is staying in once a week.

'It is a dream come true really,' said Crolfy, 38. 'Disciplining yourself for training isn't that hard, you just close your eyes and think of the waves.'

The three-day competition in January will be held at The Pipeline beach, which boasts 9m (30ft) waves.



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