Taj Burrow And Tiago Pires To Face Off In Heritage Heat

Have you been watching the Billabong Pro Ericeira? Nah, are QS comps not your scene? Well, it is a 10,000 so is a big determinant of who will be on the tour next year, so maybe you should. If that isn’t enough though, then the return of the best competitive surfer to never win a World Title, Taj Burrow, should pique your comp interests. And he’ll be going up against Portugal’s Tiago Pires.

Both Taj Burrow and Tiago Pires called it quits on their careers in 2016 and hadn’t had a heat together since 2014 back at Chopes. Although Taj’s career was a little more illustrious than Tiago’s as far as trophies and competitive success went, Tiago came out on top in Tahiti with two near perfect rides. 

Tiago Pires, Taj’s one time rival. Photo: Red Bull

Considering Taj is over in Portugal for some commentary duties, and Portugal is Tiago’s home turf, the WSL saw it fitting to get the two old rivals back in a jersey together.

The Billabong Pro Ericeira is on hold right now, with only the semis and finals left to go, and there’s no set time for the Heritage heat to take place. One can assume though as soon as the comp kicks off again – probably tomorrow – that Taj and Tiago will go head-to-head in some (hopefully) decent Portuguese waves. 

Of course, Taj and Tiago are all laughs and shoulder rubs in the promo vid put out by the wossle, but once they take to the water it’ll be as competitive as a heritage heat gets. Tune in tomorrow, or whenever the comp runs again, to get a glimpse of Taj back in the jersey and maybe stick around to find out who will get the 10,000 points and take a couple steps closer to a CT berth.