Reef Wetsuits SA National Junior Surfing Champs
Presented by Ocean & Earth SA

Surfing South Africa
St Michaels on Sea, KZN South Africa
1 - 5 October 2008

Day One 2008 Reef SA National Junior championships blisters with action

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 1 October, 2008 : - - South Africa's best junior surfers show their skills at St Mikes on South Africa's best junior surfers in the U18, U16 and U14 Boys divisions got the 2008 Reef SA National Junior Surfing Championships presented by Ocean & Earth SA under way at St Mikes today and despite the tough onshore conditions underlined why they are the future of South African surfing.

After taking part in an exuberant march past, where the eight participating teams representing seven provinces got to display their colours, it was action all the way in the twenty four Round One heats that got proceedings going.

Former team champions KZN and WP, who are defending the Freedom Cup champions, are neck and neck after Day One with seven heat wins each. Matt Pallet, Shawn Dennis and Chad du Toit (Under 18), Beyrick de Vries, David van Zyl and Devin Lane (U16) and Slade Prestwich (Under 14) were the KZN stars while WP's Matt Bromley, Jaco Steyn (Under 18 ), Mikey February, Davey Brand and JC Susan (Under 16) as well as Jarred Veldhuis and Dominic Notten (Under 14) won their heats.

Eastern Province had four heat winners in ISA Scholarship surfer Bertie Stuurman (Under 18), Grant Beck (Under 16) and Under 14's Steven Sawyer and Dylan Lightfoot.

Boland's Jacob Mellish took a Round One victory in his Under 16 heat and team mate Diran Zakarian did the same in the Under 14 division while hosts Southern KZN claimed an Under 18 heat win thanks to Kyle Whittaker and an Under 14 victory with David Gouws. Southern Cape's Dale Staples took an Under 18 heat win and SA Development Academy surfer Vumani Makhaya was the toast of his teammates with a victory in his Under 14 encounter.

While all the surfers will be aiming to reach the finals and bag a medal, the SA Junior Championships is all about achieving team honours and winning the Freedom Cup. Every surfer in the event contributes to the total team score even if they are eliminated early in the championships and the winning provincial team is decided right at the end of the event based on the highest aggregate score.

The tournament continues until Sunday when the eight individual South African champions will be crowned and the winning provincial team will be decided.

The 2008 South African Junior Championships marks a significant milestone in South African surfing history as Reef SA are the first sponsor in the history of South African surfing to be involved in every single national team tournament in the same year. In March the long time supporters of surfing sponsored the South African Grommet Games which were held in Port Elizabeth, in June they put their support behind the SA Masters Championships in East London and in August they supported the South African Championships in Victoria Bay.

Reef SA will also sponsor the South African Schools Championships in Cape Town on October 25 and 26. In another first Southern KZN Surfing Association, which was founded in 1971, are hosting the junior championships for the first time. 

Previous reports:
# 1 : Reef Wetsuits SA National Jr Champs to hit St. Michaels
# 2 : Coming soon
# 3 : Coming soon
# 4 : Coming soon  

www.surfingsouthafrica.co.za

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