Arnette Junior Surf Challenge

Surfing Australia
Sunshine Coast Australia
29 September - 3 October 2008

Winners Decided At Arnette Junior Surf Challenge On Sunshine  Coast

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 3 October, 2008 : - - Sunshine Coast -- The future of Queensland surfing looks bright after the state’s hottest up-and-comers shredded finals day to pieces at the Arnette Junior Surf Challenge on the Sunshine Coast today.

Developed with grass roots surfing in mind, the five-day long tournament acted as a fantastic introductory competition for those groms who have not competed before or have very little competitive contest experience. Today’s finals were staged in clean, contestable 1-metre waves at Coolum Beach with a swag of the region’s best juniors aged 17-years and under battling it out for exclusive titles.

Local Sunshine Coast surfers proved to be the day’s big winners, securing victory in six of the nine divisions contested. Surfing young gun Jaiden Elgey (Palm Beach) won the blue ribbon U/18 boys’ advanced final, snaring a come-from-behind win to defeat Sunshine Coast surfers Ben Milgate (Maroochydore) and James Cervi (Sunshine Beach) along with fellow Gold Coaster One Anwar (Palm Beach).

Under the pump in the opening stages of the 25-minute final, Elgey hit back with a good scoring 7.17 to remain in contention with five minutes remaining. In need of a second scoring wave, the talented goofy foot put the result beyond doubt, nabbing a set wave before executing three controlled yet radical forehand maneouvres to net a 9.00 from the judges. Final scores: Elgey (16.17), Milgate (12.33), Cervi (11.63) and Anwar (10.33).

“I’m over the moon,” said 17-year old Elgey. “My main goal was make the final today, so I’m pretty damn happy. I can’t believe I won.”

Will Myers : photo Jake White/Surfing Queensland

The high-performance action continued in the U/16 boys’ advanced final with Casuarina ace Damo Norman, trumping Wurtulla’s Nick Edgerton, Coolum’s Adam Parnell and Coolangatta’s Sol Ryan by more than 3-points. In a high-scoring affair, Norman finished with a two-wave total of 17.77 to Edgerton’s 13.83. Parnell (6.90) and Ryan (5.60) finished third and fourth respectively.

Young Maroochydore gidget Charlie Roach exceeded expectation, convincingly defeating Tahlija Redgard (Peregian Beach), Keely Andrew (Sunshine Coast) and Ashley Goodall (Caloundra) to win the U/16 girls’ title, before backing it up with victory in the U/14’s.

In the U/14 boys’, Moffat Beach’s Eli Steele hacked the swell to shreds to score a perfect 10-point ride en route to winning the hotly-contested final against Hayden Cervi (Sunrise Beach), Harry Bryant (Sunshine Beach) and Tommy Boucout (Ocean Shores, NSW).

Meanwhile, in the battle of the ‘Micro Groms’, Dextar Muskins (Kirra) and Kai Hing (Wurtulla) walked away with wins in the U/10 boys and girls’ and U/12 boys’ divisions respectively. In the intermediate divisions, Will Myers of Marcoola came up trumps in the U/18’s while Sheldon Paris of Surfers Paradise was the victor in the U/16’s

The five-day tournament was run using the second chance Surfing Australia format and guaranteed all surfers at least two surfs. Long regarded as an area home to some of Queensland’s best past and present junior surfers, the tournament is an exciting linchpin of Surfing Queensland’s events calendar.

Divisions including boys U/18 and U/16 advanced, boys U/18 and U/16 intermediate, boys U/14, boys U/12, boys U/10, boys U/8, girls U/18, girls U/16, girls U/14 along with girls U/12 will be surfed. All divisions feature a second chance format. The main contest site is Maroochydore beach, but the event does have the option of going mobile on the Sunshine Coast between Alexandra Headlands and Coolum.

www.surfingqueensland.com.au

Previous reports:
# 1 : Arnette Jr Surf Challenge set to start on Sunshine Coast
# 2 : Arnette Jnr Surf Challenge kicks off on Sunshine Coast..
# 3 : Queensland's best rule Arnette Jr Surf Challenge Day 2
# 4 : Queensland surfers rock Arnette Junior Surf Challenge 
# 5 : Finalists decided for the Arnette Junior Surf Challenge..

www.arnette.com
www.surfingqueensland.com.au

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