Comment
Share
Posted on Tuesday March 9th 2010 at 2:28 p.m.
Tweet
In a stacked final that included Shane Dorian, Grant "Twiggy" Baker, Carlos Burle, Ramon Navarro and Grant Washburn, it was Mark Healey who rose to the top and took home the top prize -- a Costco-sized bottle of Patron, a ton of bragging rights and his first international big-wave victory. Often a bridesmaid but never a bride, Healey was long overdue to win something like this. His calculated but aggressive backhand approach has been blowing minds in heavy rights across the globe for more than a decade now, but this was the first time he was able to channel that skill and put it all together in a final.
Image by Jason Murray
In absolute elation and still a little out of sorts from the celebratory fiesta, Healey commented: "I'm fired up! It would have been nice to win some money, but to be honest, it feels like I just won $100,000. We've got a movement going on and the caliber of surfing in the event was as high as any other event, every heat was like a final. Guys are hungry and going to the end of the world to chase these waves. It feels good to win."
Last year Healey won the XXL Tube of the Year Award, and now he has the Todos trophy to add to his mantle. For the tiny freckle-faced haole who grew up battling for respect and waves on the North Shore, Healey's always earned everything he's achieved. As a stand out at Pipe, a regular outer reef charger and a world-class diver, the only thing missing from the résumé was a title. He can now check that off his bucket list.
But giving credit where credit's due, Gary Linden and his crew deserve a huge amount of praise for finally bringing an event back to Todos -- without the support of a primary sponsor, no less. It's been 10 years since "Killers" hosted a contest and it's about time. The event was about as grassroots as a professional event could be, but you wouldn't have known it from the high level of judging, organization and efficiency with which the contest was produced. Running a big wave event 10 miles out to sea on a tiny island in Northern Baja is no easy task. Greg Long also deserves special recognition for putting in a few nickels of his own to finance a portion of the contest's production costs. Without his investment and the countless hours of production by the "staff," the event would not have happened. After the success of this contest, hopefully it's only a matter of time before we are back here again with jerseys.
Read the full article on ESPN.