Middles Beach, Isabela, Puerto Rico (Sunday, October 14, 2018) – The Corona Pro 33rd Edition finished and crowned champions today in 3-5 foot surf. The surfers started the morning off in clean surf with light offshore conditions, as forecasted by midday SSE winds began to show and stayed for the rest of the day providing competitors with ripable waves perfect for innovative high performance surfing. The champions, Joshua Burke (BRB) and Tiarah Blanco (PR), were able to outstand and find the way to victory on beautifull waves in front of a large crowd of fans.

Men’s Finalists, Joshua Burke (BRB) & Rafael Pereira (VNZ)

Burke channeled his stand-out performance on day one into a $10,000 champion check on the final day. He stayed consistent catching rights and lefts annihilating them with sharp pocket surfing and innovative repertorie of maneuvers. The final showdown was between Joshua Burke (BRB) and Rafael Pereira (VNZ). Both surfers opened the heat up with good waves but Joshua was able to hold the win with the highest heat score of the day, a 18.20. Pereira also posted multiple goods by putting his power surfing and air game on display with the 2nd highest heat score, a 18.00. Other top performances of day were semi finalists Brian Toth (PR) and Gabriel Escudero (PR). The highest men’s wave and heat score total was awarded to Burke with a 9.53 and a 18.20. Escudero and Toth entertained the large crowd with a variarity combination of powerfull and innovative maneuvers. Both were able to use his speed to make long sections where other surfers were getting caught behind.

Tiarah Blanco (PR) came out with the victory on the women’s side of competition. Blanco was able to find herself on the better waves and utilize her priority toward a win over Lisa Caban (PR) and take home the $10,000 first prize check. Although she came up short in the final, Cabán was able to put up a great performance during the whole event. Blanco’s great performance earned her the two highest heat total points, a 15.83 and a 15.40. Other top surfers on the women’s side were semi-finalists Cassidy McClain (US) and Molly Kirk (PR). Kirk and McClain had a notable performance in her semi-final narrowly losing to Lisa and Tiarah. MacClain great surfing performance earned her the highest single wave score, a 8.83 .



Women’s Finalists, Tiarah Blanco (PR) & Liza Cabán (PR)

The Corona Pro 33rd Edition, sanctioned by APSPR, is the 1st event in Puerto Rico’s surfing history to implement the equal gender paid, meaning that men’s and women’s are awarded with the same prize money for their competition performance.

The generous sponsors of the Corona Pro Circuit 33rd Edition are:

Corona Extra, Jose Cuervo, Hang Loose Surf Shop, Werner Vega Surfboards, Mundo Rad.