Roxy Womens Surf Festival

ASP WQS 5 Star Womens Event
Phillip Island, Victoria Australia
22 - 28 January 2007

Results/Photos/Videos etc

Hamilton inspires at Roxy Womens Surf Festival Day 1..

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 22 January, 2007 : - - Nearly 200 of the world’s best female surfers have descended on Phillip Island, Victoria for the Roxy Women’s Surf Festival which commenced with the U/20 junior girls division at Flynn’s Reef today. The blue ribbon five-star World Qualifying Series (WQS) division has attracted a class field including defending event champion and 2007 elite world tour surfer Stephanie Gilmore (Kingscliff, NSW).

The teenage surfing sensation whose meteoric rise to the sport’s top ranks was kick started with her Roxy Pro WQS victory last year, could commence competition along with other top seeded surfers tomorrow.

The 18 year-old has made no secret of her desire for back to back wins at Phillip Island stating, “I haven’t really thought about entering this year’s event as one of the world top ranked surfers, what I am thinking about is entering as defending event champion. I always want to do well.”

“This is a really relaxed event, I love surfing and competing here,” said Gilmore. “We always get good waves and this being a stand alone women’s event means the focus is on us. My win here last year gave me the confidence to go on and qualify so this event means a lot to me.”

Joining Gilmore is 13 of the worlds elite top 17 ranked surfers including 2005 world champion Chelsea Georgeson (Aus), 2004 world champion Sofia Mulanovich (Peru), Megan Abubo (Haw) and world no.2 Melanie Redman-Carr (Aus).

In round one of the junior girls a see-sawing showdown between France’s Alize Arnaud and Hawaii’s Bethany Hamilton highlighted the depth of the strong international contingent. The pair pushed each other to the buzzer in the highest scoring heat of round one against Brazil’s Bruna Schmitz and local Nina Van Dijk (Victoria).

Hamilton, the young surfer who lost her left arm in a Tiger Shark attack in her native Hawaii, was a pure inspiration, capturing an early heat lead with a series of stylishly ridden waves. The 16 year-old goofy-foot strung together combination moves in the 1.5 metre waves to include rides of 5.83 and 6.00 points in her overall total.

All three opponents were forced to play catch-up to Hamilton, with Arnaud eventually picking off two of the largest waves of the day to nab the lead and ultimately advance along with Hamilton to round two. “I’m just trying a few events this year and see how I go,” said Hamilton. “I’ll just be focusing on whatever heat I am competing in whether it be WQS or juniors.”

Brazilian Marina Wernick was the day’s other top-scorer, also advancing to round two on 13.50 points, ahead of France’s Johanne Defay who advanced behind her in second on 10.33. Local Phoebe Clarke (Victoria, AUS) and Lee Ann Curren (France) were eliminated in third and fourth respectively.

The Roxy Women’s Surfing Festival is Australia’s biggest celebration of women’s surfing bringing together a huge cross section of participants contesting seven divisions.

The Roxy Pro Womens Surfing Festival will be based at Woolamai Beach but mobile for the best quality surf on the island. While the water may be colder for most, there is a choice of nearly 20 quality breaks, depending on conditions, with contestants ready to surf a variety of reef, point and beach breaks.

The Roxy Pro Womens Surf Festival Divisions include:

World Qualifying Series (WQS) 5 star (US$25,000)
6-star Pro Junior Girls (AU$6,000) – 20 Years & under
1-star Regional WLT/7A Australian Women’s Longboard ALC Pro Tour (AU$4,000)
U/13’s, U/16’s, U/18’s and Over 35’s Amateur Divisions.

The 2007 Festival incorporates the Chill Island music festival with headline acts The Cat Empire, The Beautiful Girls, Ash Grunwald and more, on Saturday January 27th. Visit www.chillisland.org for extra info and ticketing. Samsung will be offering a K5 MP3 player for the most impressive surfer of the week. Open to any surfer in any division, as chosen by the expert panel of event commentators.

The Roxy Womens Surf Festival is proudly supported by the Victorian State Government, ASP Australasia, Surfing Victoria, Bass Coast Shire Council, and Phillip Island Nature Park and incorporates the Chill Island Music Festival
 
www.roxy.com

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Steve Robertson

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