Tom Lowe: the UK's fittest pro surfer?

I trained today with Tom Lowe and Stef Harkon. It was sunny, it was windy, they were super-fit, and I was knackered. Let me explain.

Actually, it's quite simple. St Ives-bred Tom Lowe is in his mid-20s and unless you've been living on Mars, you'll know that he's one of the foremost chargers this country has ever seen. Stef Harkon is also based in St Ives and has for the past 25 years been a UK surf-skate legend. I'm not sure which one of them is fitter. Stef is 45 but is the kind of man for whom five hours' exercise is a warm-up. Tom is regularly surfing the kind of waves that the overwhelming majority of people would find terrifying just to watch, let alone be close enough to catch a whiff of salt spray. To surf those waves, which he often does with Fergal Smith and in the company of top lensman Mickey Smith, Tom has to be ultra-fit. Since dislocating his left shoulder in a hold-down at Aileens seven weeks ago, Tom and Stef have created a training regime that is enough to make most grown men weep. And remarkably, after just seven weeks Tom seems fully fit again, with no discernible shoulder trouble (in contrast to that which afflicts my right shoulder, which I dislocated six times when I was his age and still gives me grief now). Anyway, here's the day's breakdown of events:

Stef in the morning: went for a run. Probably loads of other exercise too.

Tom in the morning: surfed Porthmeor for three hours.

Me: Sat in my chair all day and wrote. Did the washing up at lunchtime by way of a break.

4.00pm: all converged at my house in Porthcurno, me having earlier nipped to Sennen for a quick, but fruitless, surf check with Tup Newman. We then ran to a nearby beach whose name cannot be mentioned. From there it was along the cliff path to the Minack. Then we ran down the Minack steps, taking care not to fall and die thanks to my two dogs, Rio and Maya, who were running with us. At the bottom of the steps, Stef led the way as we ran back up. I was beginning to fade but luckily Rio decided to attack a small dog, giving me the perfect excuse to stop, put her on her lead and try and catch my breath.

In the Minack car park Stef and Tom were already doing what Stef calls 'boosters' - large jumps from one white line of the car parking spaces to another. My quad tear wouldn't hold up for this, so instead I did squat jumps and press ups. They did some of these too. More of them than me.

Then we ran back down the Minack steps (for people who have not been here: these steps are very steep) and got onto the gorgeous white sands of Porthcurno. We ran across the beach and scraped some lines in the sand. Then Stef set us on a particularly evil exercise - holding your breath and crawling over the sand up the hill. This was a killer. I suffered. Tom and Stef looked like they could do it all day. They did four sets, to my three, at twice the speed of mine.

After some more exercises on the beach we ran up to the area of sand and grass by the lifeguard hut. Press ups and squats ensued. Then it was a jog to the car park by the museum, where Stef produced an 8KG medicine ball. We hurled this around for the next 25 minutes or so. It was heavy. My arms ached. Everything ached. The pair of them were barely breaking sweat. It was time to run back to my place. I was knackered.

Now, if I'd only done this with Tom, I could cop out and let myself off, saying that he's a super-fit big wave surfer in the prime of his life, while I'm an increasingly ancient amateur sportsman who's currently suffering from a quad tear and a twisted bunch of nerves in my back. I could also make excuses about how I have to sit and write for hours at a time, which isn't ideal for intense training sessions.

But the fact is that Stef is older than me. And he's as fit as Tom. And, in truth, our session probably lasted about an hour in total. It was the kind of thing that they'd do not so much as a warm-up but by way of a few stretches.

The moral(s) of the story?

1. Any surf companies out there who want a top coach for their sponsored riders should get in touch with Stef Harkon.

2. Tom Lowe is not only a decent and likeable bloke, without a trace of the too-cool-for-school arrogance that some surfers without even a fraction of his ability seem to think is their birthright, but he also demonstrates the truth of that old adage: if you want to succeed at something, you've got to be prepared to put a lot of hard work in behind the scenes. In other words, no pain, no gain. Thanks to his dedication, Tom might just be the fittest pro surfer in Britain.

3. If I want to be anywhere near the levels of fitness of Stef and Tom, I need to do the circuit we did today - every day. I think I can do this. After all, it was just an hour. Surely that hour exists? Doesn't it?

Or is that another injury I can feel...

The superb images of Tom Lowe here are courtesy of a man every bit as admirable as Lowey, Mickey Smith.

Comments

[Dave J]

Lowey is already a legend at 25 but give yourself a break - you can't keep up with the likes of him!

[f6]

i like stories like this

[Phoenixnight]

Alex, this is what I like about you. I read your blog, and it makes me want to do something. As a near 45 yo myself, I'm just going for a run now, and have vowed to do next years London Marathon. Cheers mate.

[EL 50]

great post and you're right - Tom, Fergal and Mickey have raised the bar massively

now get out there and get training!

[allie]

I have trained with you Alex and YOU ARE FIT! who cares if people are fitter than you, lifes to short for all this. Just remember you only go round once and as long as your fit and healthy (which apart from your niggly problem areas you are) you should be consentrating on having fun, enjoying yourself, being nice to your body and doing what YOU want. Stop comparing yourself to other people its not good for you , you are you and thats that ! I think you should go off to Costa Rica, have a nice time, spend quality time with your family and not worry about this and surf your arse off, But I insist that you come back smilin with no worry lines that your not as good at something as someone else. IT DOESN'T REALY MATTER.

[Alex Wade]

Cheers to all on this (especially you Allie!).

I think what I was trying to say is that it's inspirational encountering the likes of Tom Lowe, but that, yes, the truth is that the days when I might have been as fit as him (if they ever existed) are over. That said, it's good to keep the faith. Even if I was at half the pace of Stef and Tom, it was still great to be in the fresh air, opening my lungs, training.

Does that make sense?

Right, off to Costa Rica soon - with a smile!

Cheers
Alex

[Glenn Walker]

fantastic surfer!!! theres some pretty good footage of him surfing in this preview, he features on a relentless energy film to come out next month October.

http://www.relentlessenergy.com/livesoftheartists

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[Gilda Jacoobsen]

Hi Tom, trying desperately to get in touch with Matt , received two letters from him while he was somewhere in the world, and so were we. Back in Yalls until March then back in the u.k. Would dearly love to catch up with him. Great surfing career Tom. Come a long long way since we first met you in St Ives and Dunsborough.Congratulations.