Contest director Luke Egan tests out vonditions : photo Steve Robertson

Billabong ASP World Junior Championships

ASP WJC Mens and Womens Event
North Narrabean, Sydney Australia
1 - 8 January 2007

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BILLABONG ASP WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS CALLED OFF FOR TODAY

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 1 January, 2007 : - - North Narrabeen, Australia – With only a messy one metre swell pushing across the famous location of North Narrabeen Beach in Sydney, Australia, organisers of the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships have opted to call the event off for today.

After waiting for tide and wind conditions to improve throughout the morning Contest Director Luke Egan eventually decided that the waves were not suitable to hold competition and will make the next call tomorrow morning at 7am with the hope of kicking off proceedings at 7.30am sharp. 

Despite the lack of cooperation from the weather today the forecast for the waiting period looks promising with a swell increase predicted over the next few days.  Local forecasters are predicting that a three foot swell will hit the area within the next 24 hours and will be coming in from an Easterly direction, which is well suited to the world class Narrabeen arena.

Adriano de Souza & friends awaits the call : photo ASP/Covered IMages

The competition format of both the men’s and women’s is identical to that of ASP’s elite surfing tours – the Foster’s ASP World Tour and the ASP Women’s World Tour – in that both will begin with three-man first round heats (16 men’s heats and eight women’s) with heat winners going through to round three and second and third going to round two.

The field will then be whittled down via man-on-man heats with instant elimination for those in second.

The event waiting period extends until January 8 but with four days needed to complete proceedings, organisers will wait for only the best waves on offer before sending out the troups. Contest Director Luke Egan will assess conditions at first light tomorrow and will make a call regarding starting the event soon after.

Heat Draw

Heat 1: Heitor Pereira (BRA); Casey Brown (HAW); Julian Wilson (AUS)
Heat 2: Damien Fahrenfort (ZAF); Sterling Spencer (USA); Vincent Duvignac (FRA)
Heat 3: Dion Atkinson (AUS); Romain Cloitre (FRA); Heath Joske (AUS)
Heat 4: TJ Barron (HAW); Nobuyuki Osawa (JAP); Reubyn Ash (GBR)
Heat 5: Hank Gaskell (HAW); Shota Nakamura (JPN); Halley Batista (BRA)
Heat 6: Matt Wilkinson (AUS); Keegan Nel (ZAF); Bernardo Martins (BRA)
Heat 7: Ola Eleogram (HAW); Torrey Meister (HAW); Tamarao McComb (PYF)
Heat 8: Adriano de Souza (BRA); Dusty Payne (HAW); Luke Cheadle (AUS)
Heat 9: Jordy Smith (ZAF); Marc Lacomare (FRA); James Wood (AUS)
Heat 10: Sam Page (AUS); Eric Geiselman (USA); Mitch Coleborn (AUS)
Heat 11: Dylan Graves (PRI); Kento Takahashi (JPN); Matias Mulanovich (PER)
Heat 12: Mason Ho (HAW); Shu Hagiwara (JPN); Angelo Lozano (MEX)
Heat 13: Hideyoshi Tanaka (JAP); Pierre-Valentin Laborde (FRA)
Heat 14: Nick Rozsa (USA); Granger Larsen (HAW); Rory Beach (ZAF)
Heat 15: Gavin Gillette (HAW); Thiago Camarao (BRA); Wade Goodall (AUS)
Heat 16: Jean Sebastien Estienne (FRA); Brandon Jackson (ZAF); Adrien Toyon (REU)

Heitor Pereira (right) and Marina Werneck, Brazil : photo ASP/Covered Images 

About the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships
The Billabong ASP (Association of Surfing Professionals) World Junior Championship is the most sought after junior surfing accolade on the planet and is recognised globally as the future of surfing.  Seen as a stepping-stone to elite world tour, the event, now in its eighth year was originally held in Hawaii before relocating to Australia.  Finding a home at the historically esteemed North Narrabeen beach in Sydney, it now run’s during the first week of January each year.  

The prestigious event attracts qualifiers from eight world regions including Australasia, North America, South America, Hawaii, Asia, South Africa, Europe and a specially sanctioned ASP International region.  Each of the representatives has won through grueling regional circuits to earn their place among the top 45 junior men and 18 junior women in the world, a feat in itself.  

The $US 62,000 ($AUD 80,000) prize purse qualifies the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships as the richest junior surfing event in the history of surfing.  

The eventual victors will stand alongside the 2006 elite men’s world tour winner Kelly Slater and women’s world champ Layne Beachley at the official ASP ceremony in March 2007, crowned as the worlds only true professional junior surfing champions.  They will also join an esteemed list of former champions including Three Time World Champion Andy Irons (Haw) and Australian super-star Joel Parkinson. 

Complimenting the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships will be Sonic Bloom, a music festival that will feature some of Australia’s top music talent..

Previous reports:
# 1 : Billabong ASP World Junior Champ trials ready to rock
# 2 : Billabong ASP World Junior Championship gearing up
# 3 : Wood claims Von Zipper trials for Billabong ASP Juniors
# 4 : De Souza to lead charge at Billabong ASP World Juniors

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