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Vans Women’s Triple Crown of
Surfing O’Neill World Cup of Surfing Sunset Challenge
Sunset Beach, Oahu, Hawaii 25 November - 7 December
2005
Vans Triple Crown of Surfing O’Neill World Cup of
Surfing Sunset Beach, Oahu, Hawaii 25 November - 6
December 2005
O’NEILL PUTS THE TRIPLE BACK IN THE WOMEN’S CROWN
The O’Neill World
Cup of Surfing Sunset Challenge brings women back to compete at Sunset Beach
after six years of waiting
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 16 November, 2005 : - - Irvine and
Santa Cruz, CA - O'Neill inks the deal for a $10,000 women’s event for the
second jewel of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing at Sunset Beach, located on the
renowned North Shore of Oahu. The second stop of the Triple Crown of
Surfing promises to deliver luster as a women’s championship surfing event has
not been held at Sunset Beach for six years. The O'Neill Sunset Challenge
follows the WCT (World Championship Tour) event at Haleiwa and precedes the
final event for both the Triple Crown and the Women's WCT tour at Honolua Bay,
Maui. The O'Neill Sunset Challenge waiting period is from Nov.25 to Dec. 6th,
2005. The O’Neill World Cup of Surfing Sunset Challenge is
open to the world’s top 17 ranked women surfers from the ASP (Association of
Surfing Professionals) WCT, along with six wildcards, yet to be announced. A
seventh wildcard invite will go to O’Neill’s Junior Pro Island Girl event
winner, Bethany Hamilton, who dominated the Junior Pro event in four to six foot
waves last month on the South Shore of Kauai. “We are proud to be
keeping the Triple Crown title alive for the women and having them surfing
Sunset Beach,” said O’Neill’s Director of Brand Marketing, Bret Muhlitner. “This
specialty event is a really good opportunity for the Women WCT surfers to charge
Sunset, as well as some of the local Hawaiian talent to prove themselves in one
of the most challenging waves in the world,” adds Muhlitner.
Sunset Beach is located in perhaps the most infamous stretch of
beach in the world and has become the epicenter for high profile surf events.
The size of winter waves on Oahu's North Shore plus the level of talented female
athletes equals a chance for excellence for this World Cup event.
"Six years is a long time to wait for a place like Sunset, so the
anticipation should make for a pretty epic event," said CEO and President of
O'Neill Clothing, Kelly Gibson Executive Director of the Triple
Crown, Randy Rarick said, “It’s been my goal to get the women back to Sunset for
the last few years. I’m really happy to see the women in a big wave arena once
again. This event solidifies a very strong stop for the second jewel of the
Triple Crown.”
Success at Sunset Beach requires extreme physical strength with mental
stamina being equally as important. The challenge that lies ahead for the women
happens almost 1/2 mile out in the ocean where it is not an uncommon occurrence
for 15 to 20 foot waves to roll though this break. The wave thickness adds to
the uniqueness and intimidation factor of Sunset Beach. “I am
looking forward to surfing Sunset in an event again,” said O’Neill teamrider and
WCT title contender Rochelle Ballard. “It's been a while. Sunset is one of the
most challenging waves in the world and it's great to see my sponsors bring it
back into the Triple Crown,” adds Ballard. All WCT competitors
including Rochelle Ballard, Chelsea Georgeson, Sofia Mulanovich, Melanie
Bartels, along with Bethany Hamilton and six other wildcards including local
Sunset standouts are invited to the Challenge. Although this is one of the last
events for the WCT athletes, points for the Sunset Challenge affect only the
Triple Crown standings, which makes the second stop in the race to win the crown
all the more exciting. O’Neill is the world’s original surf brand.
The family-owned and operated company distributes its products to 85 countries,
including more than 2,000 specialty wetsuit and clothing retailers in the U.S.
O’Neill Clothing USA is a licensee of O’Neill International. For more
information log on to oneill.com.
www.oneill.com
To learn more about the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, please visit www.triplecrownofsurfing.com.
Previous reports: # 1 : Coming soon # 2 : Coming
soon # 3 : Coming soon
# 4 : Coming
soon
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Jodi Young oceanpromotion@hawaii.rr.com
Vans Triple Crown
of Surfing - Surfersvillage |