Pagudpud Surfer Displays Shortboarding Prowess on Day Three

by Ferina Santos

The third day of the La Union Pro 2019 opened with tricky conditions due to the incoming swell. Onshore conditions made the four-foot waves challenging for our competitors in the Men’s Open Shortboard.

With forty-eight surfers set to compete for the championship, no time was wasted. The men got in the water for the first round. Pagudpud local Brent Carlo “Alot” Manegdeg posted the highest combined total of 9.05 points in the fifth heat.

“I didn’t think that I would make it past round one” Manegdeg shares. “The waves were huge, some reaching an 8-foot face and the current was so strong,” he adds.

Only riding three waves, Manegdeg’s first two waves were his highest-scoring ones—quickly pushing him to first place. “The true challenge in surfing tricky conditions is the ability to read the waves right,” Manegdeg said.

Surfing since he was nine-years-old, Manegdeg practised on the waves of Pagudpud with the help of watching surfing videos to improve his skills. “Messy and windy conditions are my favourite” he adds.

Growing up surfing Ilocos Norte’s ‘Heartbreak’, Manegdeg has been competing professionally in the Philippine Surfing Championship Tour (PSCT) since the first tour in 2017. He dreams of making it to the top 16 in the PSCT rankings. 

“I’m looking forward to the next rounds of the Men’s Open. I’m sure it’s going to be exciting, and I’ll do my best to make it to the next round.”

Despite the competition on hold due to unfavourable wind condition,  the continuation of the Men’s Open Shortboard Division is bound to an exciting, action-packed day should the conditions improve.

The La Union Pro 2019 is presented by the provincial government unit of La Union, Funky Quarters, Gwapitos, and Mad Monkeys. With the support of Kudo Surf, Cebu Pacific, Havaianas Philippines, Fat Lips Surf Shop, ABS-CBN Sports and Action, CNN Philippines, ANCx, Inquirer.net, Metro Channel, Tagpuan sa San Juan, Clean Beach, Olas Banditos, Flotsam and Jetsam Hostel, Seabuds La Union, Inq Pop, Fluidsurf, Be Siargao, PAGCOR, VANS Philippines, Maui and Sons, Beach Hut, DWIZ, My Life on Board, Fluidsurf, Heineken, and Surftown La Union.

Special thanks to La Union Surf Club and the Little Surfmaid Resort.

The Philippine Surfing Championship Tour is the premier professional surfing competition where top surfers from all over the Philippines compete in multiple locations around the country, vying for a spot in the national surfing team.

Already on its third year, PSCT celebrates Filipino surfers, passionate fans, and dedicated partners that together grow the Philippine surfing community to what it is today and what it was envisioned to be.

PSCT exists to set the stage and act as a platform for professional surfing in the Philippines, promoting Filipino surfers as world-class athletes and uniting the surfing community and fans by sharing the story and adventure of Philippine surfing one tour at a time.

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