30 year-old Mark 'Scratch' Cameron has been knocked out of the O'Neill Highland Open that has been staged off Thurso for the past five days and finishes on Thursday.

But the Fraserburgh based 2007 Scottish Surfing Champion, a title that earned him a wild card into this week's 6-star ASP World Qualifying Series event, told ITWZ yesterday that despite his disappointment at being eliminated in the first round, "I enjoyed it and would love to do it again."

Faced with competing against a 144 strong pool of the cream of world surfing, including 2000 World Champion Sunny Garcia from Hawaii, Cameron always knew his chances of progressing through the four-man heats was slim.
 

Recalling his heat, the Fraserburgh surfer said:

"The waves were pretty small and I was up against a Frenchman, Brazilian and an American. I caught my fair share of waves and a really good one which would probably have scored really high if I hadn't fallen off," explained the Scot.

"I was third so at least I wasn't last," he added, saying it was all a great experience including the opportunity to "hang out with the (top) guys."

With conditions expected to improve towards finals day, last year's winner Nathan Hedge (Australia) is among those still in contention for the title and $US135,000 prize.