O'Neill SA Jr Surfing Champs

Surfing South Africa
Port Elizabeth South Africa
26 - 30 September 2007

12 hours of surfing on Day Three of the  2007 O'Neill SA Junior Surfing Championships at Pollock Beach in Port Elizabeth

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 28 September, 2007 : - -  Organisers took full advantage of ideal conditions on Day Three of the O'Neill SA Junior Championships at Pollock beach in Port Elizabeth running nearly 12 hours of heats on what is probably the longest day of competition in any event this year. There were no complaints from the surfers who made the most of the 3 foot surf which seemed to improve towards high tide at the end of the day.

After waiting for two days it was the turn of the U12 girls to take on Pollock Beach and the seven contestants gave it their all in what for some of them was head high surf. The two surfers who won their first round heats and went straight to the final were Jenna Van der Au of Southern Cape and Carryn MacNicol of Southern KZN. The remaining five will surf one more heat and the top two will join the finalists.

In the U14 Girls repercharge round, Macassar sisters Tylah (who is surfing for EP) and Monique Terblanche (representing Boland), Emma Smith of Border and Alex Morris of WP went through to the quarter finals while Catherine Frey of Southern KZN, Sam Laing and Faye Zoetmulder of EP and Beulah Buitendag of Boland advanced through the U16 girls repercharge to the quarters.

Lisa Mace of WP, Rashia Smith of KZN, Adele Nortje of Southern Cape and O'Neill team rider Caylin de Reuck of Boland were the surfers to advance to the U18 girls’ quarter finals via the repercharge round.

In the U12 boys division Simo Mkhize of the Development Team, Jason Harris of Southern KZN, Murray Varnfield of Border and Dane van Greunen of EP went through from the repercharge round to the quarter finals while the U14 boys quarter finals were decided after a tense round Three produced an upset with the elimination of Dane Staples of Southern Cape.

David Van Zyl, Kane Bennewith, Mikey Venter and Cullen Collopy of KZN, Mikey February, Jarred Veldhuis, Daniel Wilson and Dominic Notten of WP are all in the U14 quarters along with Jeandre Blignault of Boland, Steven Sawyer of EP and Border surfers Phillip Britz and Jean du Plessis.

The Under 16 quarter finalists are made up of KZN surfers Devin Lane, Beyrick de Vries, Blake Freegard and Scott le Fevre, the WP contingent of Matthew Bromley, Peter van der Merwe, Brendon Gibbens and JC Susan, Dale Staples and Shaun Joubert of Southern Cape, Logan Phillpot of Border and Brett Palmboom of Southern KZN.

Defending U18 champion Kyle Lane, 2006 Under 16 champion Chad Du Toit and KZN team mate Kyle Beach are all through to the U18 Boys quarter finals along with Aran Moore and O'Neill team rider Daniel Mace of WP, Donovan Zoetmulder and Justin Grey of EP, Lungani Memani and Kyle Galloway of Border, Rory Gibson of Southern Cape, Klee Strachan of Southern KZN and Tommie Kruger of Boland.

Surprise eliminations in this highly competitive division were Jaco Steyn of WP, Shawn Dennis of KZN and Phillip Visagie of Boland. With two competition days left the race for the Freedom Cup looks to be between KZN, WP and Border with EP close behind. The Freedom Cup is awarded to the team with the highest combined points.

The penultimate day will feature competition in all six divisions with the semi finals and finals set for Sunday. Sunday will also see the traditional O'Neill Superfreak show which is a surfing contest with a difference. The winners of the R1000 prize money will be the three surfers who are able to surf competitively while dressed up in the most outrageous costume.

The 2007 O'Neill South African Junior Championships is a premier Surfing South Africa's tournament. The event was first held in 1996 and is now one of the most important events of the Surfing South Africa contest calendar as it not only determines National Champions in the Under 18, Under 16, Under 14 and Under 12 boys and girls age divisions but also decides the winning provincial team each year.

The defending champions are KwaZulu-Natal with hosts Eastern Province, Western Province, Boland, Border, Southern Cape, Southern KZN and the SA Development Academy team all participating. The heats, daily information and pictures of the 2007 O'Neill SA Junior Championships are available online.

Previous reports:
# 1 : O'Neill S.A. Junior Surfing Champs set for Port Elizabeth
# 2 : O'Neill SA Jr. Surfing Champs underway at Pollack Beach
# 3 : Day 2 of O'Neill SA Jr Surfing Champs scores clean surf
# 4 : Coming soon  

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