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> News > Indar Unanue imposes his dominance in La Vaca Gigante 2024

surfing News

Indar Unanue imposes his dominance in La Vaca Gigante 2024

Indar Unanue on his way to victory in Santander. Image credit: / La Vaca Gigante / Desde el Mar

24 February 2024

- The Basque surfer was unstoppable in the water with an “almost perfect” score in the final heat. - A crowd of 10.000 people made it to the Cueto cliffs to enjoy an epic day of XXL surfing live.

The 10th edition of La Vaca Gigante is now history. Twenty-four local and international surfers fought today in the imposing Cantabrian wave, surfing walls of more than 7 meters high, which crashed against the Cantabrian coast—an epic day of XXL surfing in Santander finally crowned Indar Unanue as champion, who ended up shaking the cowbell and raising the milk jug that accredits the winners of this prestigious competition.

The day dawned cloudy in Cueto, with almost no wind and the silence was only broken by the sound of waves eagerly awaiting their turn to shine. The tide was rising, and around noon La Vaca Gigante 2024 competition started with the trial round, a preview in which seven surfers competed to achieve the last place for the main event. The action did not take long to start, with good waves and very powerful surfing, especially by the Frenchman Pierre Rollet, who, with 24.11 points, surpassed the rest and made a place for himself in the final phase of the event.

With the Main Event roster already complete,18 surfers, divided into three heats of 6 riders each, the fight for €10,000 in prize money got underway before an increasingly large audience arrived at the imposing cliffs looking forward to enjoying a great day of high voltage surfing. The competition format consisted of 45-minute heats in which surfers would add their two best waves, the best of the two would also count double.

The first round highlighted local talent, with Nico García and Nano Riego taking the first and second places – 23.84 and 22.87 points, respectively – which gave them access to the grand final. The participants of the second round entered the water immediately afterwards, and the tables turned as this time it was the foreign surfers Indar Unanue and Nic Lamb who got the best waves of the heat, adding a score of 25.27 for the Basque and 25.39 for the Californian. Finally, the third round featured local Juan Merodio and Frenchman Pierre Rollet. Merodio achieved a perfect score of 10 on his best wave – 26.90 in the combined wave – and Rollet achieved the highest combined score of the qualifying rounds with 28.27 points.

With the final list of cowboys who would fight for this year's title, around 10,000 people crowded the cliffs of Cueto expectantly to see what would decide the grand finale of La Vaca Gigante 2024. With six finalists and an hour-long heat in a capricious sea, things wouldn’t be easy for the riders. Patience, talent and wisdom would be the keys to the golden round of the championship.

The Cantabrians Nico García and Nano Riego – champion of the last edition – asserted their status as locals by being very active throughout the final, adding a combined score of over 20 points, putting them on the podium in third and second place, respectively. The Frenchman Pierre Rollet, one of the most notable names of the day, rode a bomb that the judges scored with a 9.77. However, he lacked a second wave that would have put him on the podium or even allowed him to challenge Indar Unanue, who was unbeatable in the final heat, for the victory.

Unanue scored two waves above 9 points –9.67 in the second wave and 9.93 in the third–, to add a combined score of 29.53 out of 30 possible. The numbers of the Basque surfer in this 10th edition of La Vaca Gigante are impressive. After a few years without participating in the competition, he finally won after finishing second three times before.

“The organisation has done a great job and has been right with the call for the event because it is a complicated wave to get the timing right. I came wanting to make a final, and I went for it once I saw myself there. I was very excited to win the championship because, after several podiums, I was really looking forward to it. Thank you to all the riders, safety patrol, public and organisation staff for making it possible!”

- Indar Unanue, de La Vaca Gigante 2024 winner

RESULTS LA VACA GIGANTE 2024

1st - Indar Unanue (EUK) - 29,53

2nd - Nano Riego (CAN) - 22,21

3rd - Nicolás García López (CAN) - 20,61

4th - Pierre Rollet (FRA) - 19,54

5th - Nic Lamb (USA) - 17,99

6th - Juan Merodio Velasco (CAN) - 2,46

Best Cantabric surfer : Nano Riego

Best wipeout: Juan Merodio

- Full Result List

Finally, we’d like to underline that this new edition of La Vaca Gigante has been possible due to the support of the Santander City Council through the Department of Tourism and the Municipal Sports Institute; and the Government of Cantabria, through the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sports, Cantabria Infinita and Lebaniego Jubilee 23-24. In addition, it is sponsored by Blue Banana, White Claw, Camarsa, Banco Santander, Estrella Galicia, Mini Grünblau Motor and Dysmetcant. Collaborators include Aemet, MarCa, Grados Deportivos, European University of the Atlantic, Costa Quebrada and the Cantabrian Surf Federation. The championship is twinned with Gigantes de Nazaré and El Buey Santos del Mar.