|
Blake Ainsworth : photo Surfing Australia
Rhythm Kirra Teams Challenge
Surfing Australia
Kirra Point, Australia
5 - 7 February 2010
Kirra a Good Chance to be the Venue in coming Two Final Days
Excellent large surf at Duranbah Beach on the southern Gold Coast in Queensland provided awesome conditions for the opening day of the 2010 Rhythm Kirra Teams Challenge.
With waves approaching 2m along with ideal winds, high scores and outstanding performances were common throughout the day as surfers competed for their beloved Boardriders club, chasing Australian Surfing’s most prestigious Club Surfing title. Pro junior surfers (20 years and under) began the day with each of the 32 strong clubs here obligated to field two Pro Juniors along with six open surfers.
Early standouts included Sunshine Coast ripper Noah Lane, representing Coolum Boardriders and Palm Beach surfer Oney Anwar with both surfers charging the powerful waves and finding excellent 8.67 high scoring rides. “It’s always great to represent the club at these events “ said Lane after his big win.
“The Eagle trophy is something every Boardriders club in Australia aspires to have on the trophy shelf and I’m sure one day Coolum will claim the trophy – whether it’s this year, we’ll have to wait and see!”
With the swell clearly pulsing during the afternoon Snapper Boardriders surfer Blake Ainsworth put on a powerful display to take a big win defeating Jesse Allen (Kirra). It was Snapper’s 2nd win for the day from both their surfers following a win from James Wood earlier in the day and on-paper the club looks well positioned. “Great to win for the club” said Ainsworth after his heat.
“We are confident with a very strong team and I’m looking forward to watching Occy (Mark Occhilupo), Josh Kerr, Jay Phillips and all the boys surfing these next two days – I’ve done my job and it feels good!”
A special guest at today’s event was former swimming great Tracey Wickham who spent a lot of time on the commentary team. Tracey is at the event raising awareness and representing the Hannah’s Chance Foundation Fighting Sarcoma, a cancer that claimed Tracey’s daughter and relevant to surfing with former ASP World Tour surfer Richie Lovett battling the cancer recently.
Tracey will be at the event throughout the weekend and like all at the event, everyone is super optimistic that Kirra may well be the location for the event in the coming days. Today was slightly too small for Kirra to be the all day option for the event, however tomorrow may well be ideal with a further increase in swell very possible.
Twenty-three heats were completed today and it’s very early days in the event and impossible to really identify a leading club at this stage however the expected strong clubs like Le-Ba (Lenox/Ballina), Werri Beach, Merewether, Snapper, Kirra, Byron Bay, Avoca, Noosa all appeared well in contention!
The event will run all Saturday and Sunday, hopefully at Kirra and a winner will be crowned later Sunday.
The Rhythm Kirra Teams Challenge is made possible by support from Rhythm, Allstate Partners, Rainbow Bay SLSC, Southern Gold Coast, Electric, Gold Coast City Council, Suncorp Bank, Gold Coast Surf, Stagg Chill, SolrX, Aluminium Access Systems, FarKing, Raptor, Surfing World, Surfing Australia
Surfing Queensland, DNA Sound, C.M & S.M Fraser Pty Ltd, Syco
|
