Bodyboarder takes South American title

DURBAN’S Iain Campbell is making waves on the international bodyboarding scene.

Campbell has just returned from an international world tour (WT), the South American leg of The Association of Professional Bodyboarders (APB), where he achieved a 17th position in Brazil, and won the Chilean event, the Arica Chilean Challenge.

Campbell was away for a month, staying two weeks in each place for the events, and arriving home on Wednesday night, he was already preparing for the next event in Port Alfred.

“I need to also support the local events and I might even be in the running for the local tour title for the year,” he said.

Campbell’s passion for the sea started at a young age. “I first jumped off the pier at North Beach at the age of four, and as my dad is a life member of Durban Surf, I think the influence came through lifesaving. I never really took bodyboarding too seriously and started it for fun. I only started competing at the age of 11 when I started doing local competitions and national events,” he said.

Since then, he has won a national title twice consecutively in the boys’ division and was runner-up the next year, in 2011. He was runner-up on the national tour in the Open division in 2012 and was selected for the national team, and then won the tour title that year. He also won the ISA World Bodyboarding Games drop knee division in Venezuela in 2012.

“I also finished my studies that year, so it was a really busy year for me! The next year was the start of my international career, and I broke through in fifth place in Brazil that year, my best result up until last year, which were exciting times!” he said.

In 2015, Campbell made 9th on the WT in Brazil, 5th in Chile and 3rd in a second event in Chile, 2nd in Portugal and 9th in another event in Portugal, 5th in Puerto Rico and 5th overall on the World Tour 2015.

To start off 2016, Campbell was in Hawaii where he was signed up to GT Boards, an international brand which he is riding for at the moment. Campbell took part in, and won, two competitions in Cape Town in April, the Cape Classic and the West Coast Classic. During mid-September he is off to Portugal for three events, then to the Canary Islands for two events, before the tour is done for the year.

“Then it’s back to Hawaii in January again! It never stops! It’s awesome to be able to do something I am passionate about as a career, but the travelling scene is not easy, it’s not glam! It is unbelievable to be able to see the different places though. I’ve been to 10 to 15 different countries already, they are all different, it’s never the same!” he said.