WQS & Junior Contests

VODAFONE CONNECTS WITH AUSTRALIA’S LARGEST FESTIVAL OF SURFING

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 17 January, 2006 : - - Vodafone Australia is proud to announce its commitment as naming rights sponsor to Surfest, one of the biggest and longest running professional surfing competitions in Australia. The Vodafone Surfest Festival presented by Billabong will be launched today at Newcastle beach, with action barreling along at the same venue from March 28 until April 9.  Also announcing their presenting sponsor status is the surf brand giant Billabong.

“Being involved with the biggest surfing festival in the Australian leg of the world surfing tour has generated a lot of excitement at Vodafone,” said Frances Martin, State General Manager, Vodafone New South Wales. “We’re really enthusiastic about supporting both the surfing community and the Newcastle region and we believe that this sponsorship will bring our ties with Newcastle closer than ever.”

The Vodafone Surfest Festival presented by Billabong, which turns 21 this year, attracts more spectators and competitors than any other professional surfing event in Australia. One of only three surfing festivals in the world, the Vodafone Surfest Festival presented by Billabong will feature a variety of surfing activities including the four-star World Qualifying Series Vodafone Open tournament.

Some of the world’s top surfers, including two-time winner Mark Occhilupo and last year’s winner and current world number 3, Mick Fanning, are keen to get their names etched on the trophy yet again. As well as sponsoring the Vodafone Surfest Festival, Vodafone offers the latest surf reports and results from Vodafone live! straight to your mobile phone. Vodafone is committed to bringing surfers, content that is relevant to their surfing lifestyle.

Billabong Marketing Manager and local Newcastle hero Luke Egan stated: “I’m stoked to see Vodafone and Billabong getting behind the Surfest this year; it’s a great event for surfing in Australia and really important to the Newcastle community. “Coming from Newcastle, I have seen this event develop over the years and it always treated me well from a competitive perspective.  I think it’s fantastic that Vodafone in partnership with Billabong have committed to supporting surfing on this elite level,” Egan said.

About Vodafone
Vodafone Group Plc is a leading mobile communications company – 25 per cent of the world’s mobile phone users are connected to Vodafone.  Vodafone has equity interests in 27 countries, and partner networks in a further 14 countries - leaving an unmatched network footprint.  The company provides quality services to 3.3 million Australian customers and has more than 171 million proportionate customers worldwide.
© Vodafone Pty Limited 2004:  VODAFONE and the Vodafone logos are trade marks of the Vodafone Group.  Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trade marks of their respective owners. Vodafone services are subject to network availability and individual handset capabilities.

About Billabong
Billabong International Limited is the holding Company of a global group employing almost 1,500 people, involved in the design, production and distribution of surf and board sports’ apparel and accessories.  Billabong’s products are sold in more than 90 countries by its directly controlled operations in Australia, New Zealand, North America, Europe, Japan and Brazil and through licensed operations and distributors in other regions.
Billabong is the leading surf wear apparel brand in Australia and is known for innovation in surf, skate and snow events across all ages and genders worldwide.  The international event platform includes three world championship tour events at Teahupoo, Tahiti, Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa and Mundaka, Spain, as well as the Association of Surfing Professionals
(ASP) World Junior Championships in Sydney, Australia.

About Surfest
Surfest is Australia’s largest surfing festival and is the only ASP endorsed surfing competition for men and women in New South Wales. Surfest is Newcastle’s only annual international sporting event and it attracts more than 200 surfers, with many coming from around the globe, including the United States, Hawaii, Brazil, Japan, South Africa, New Zealand and France, The list of winners of the event, including seven-time world champion Kelly Slater, reads like a whose who of professional surfing.  Surfest celebrates its 21st birthday in 2006 and organisers, supporters and the surfers are thrilled that leading international companies with a commitment to surfing, Vodafone and Billabong, will help the festival achieve and celebrate that milestone.

www.surfest.com

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For more information:

Vodafone Australia
Georgina Murphy,
Pulse Communications,
georgina@pulsecom.com.au 

Cynthia Fernandez,
Vodafone Australia,
cynthia.fernandez@vodafone.com

Billabong Australia
Simon Barratt, 
sbarratt@billabong.com.au

Surfest
Paul Scott,
Surfest 
surfestmedia@iinet.net.au 

Cassandra Murnieks
easurfest4@hotmail.com

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