Welsh wave pool dishes up amazing rides

Some of the world’s best surfers have descended on Wales to compete in a unique event at a brilliant new wave pool, notching up some amazing rides.

Set in the tiny town of Dolgarrog, in north west Wales, the Wavegarden wave pool has played host to the 2015 Red Bull Unleash competition to rave reviews from competitors.

And one look at the footage of the amazingly fun looking waves will have surfers around the world salivating.

The faultless and mechanical waves offer rights and lefts breaking in a manmade lagoon with the inaugural event drawing some of the best surfers in the world outside the World Surf League tour, including rising Aussies Jack Freestone and Mitch Crews.

The pair finished equal third with Hawaii's Albee Layer winning the event, which was run with a new format from the standard 30-minute-best-two-waves heat scheme.

The man-on-man duel concept saw pairs of surfers go head to head, wave for wave, with a coin toss determining who surfs first.

After each surfer rode a wave, the best score took the points with the first winner the first competitor to claim three wins from their five waves.

The event is also a joy for spectators, who sit just 10m from the action with injured WSL surfer Jordy Smith among more than 2000 fans on hand to watch the surfing.

. "It's cool!" said Smith of the ceoncept.. "You both have an equal opportunity, and there's no two ways about it, the best surfer always wins.

"You can't afford to fall so you really have to walk the fine line between pushing it to the limit and pushing it too far."

Smith said set up the created a stadium-like atmosphere.

"The crowd's right above you, as close as you can possibly get to someone on a wave," said Smith.

"Some guys thrive off it, other don't. It's an arena for those who can feed off the energy of the crowd."