Australian Junior Surfing Titles

Surfing Australia
Margaret River West Australia
1 - 7 December 2008

Live Coverage  |  Results/Photos/Videos etc

Semi Finalists decided across the Australian Schools Surfing Titles

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 3 December, 2008 : - - Highly anticipated showdowns are eventuating in the under 16 Girls division of the Australian Junior Titles as the girls took to a wind swept Margaret River for their opening round heats this morning. The field in this division is stacked with talent and it may well be the richest cluster of talent at this event.

Just for starters, recent ASP World Tour event winner Tyler Wright (NSW/Culburra) heads the field and the super talented 14 year old put on a great show posting an event high 9.25 wave score on her way to a solid opening round win this morning.

Tyler, however, knows this event is no easy take for her and she was pushed all the way in her heat today by another exciting emerging surfer in Victoria’s Nikki Van Dijk (Phillip Island). Van Dijk also posted an excellent 8.5 ride to place second in the heat just behind Wright with both surfers advancing through to the quarter finals in the 4 surfer heat format.

Satisfied with her performance Van Dijk said after her heat “ I’m loving the waves here at Margaret River and that’s a good start – It’s always great coming up against Tyler Wright as we all really have to push the limits of our surfing and it’s simply good for us to be competing hard – I have defeated her previously at national level and at the time I thought it was a fluke but now I’m thinking more on the lines that everyone is beatable and it’s just a case of performing to your best – she can be beaten and so can some of the other great surfer in my division!”

Ellie – Jean Coffey from Crescent Head NSW and Gold Coast’s Brodie Doyle were  also impressive opening round 1 heat winners today and the 16 Girls division as it heads into the quarter finals in the coming days is certain to live up to it’s expectation as being the closest and hottest contested division.

The schools divisions were also prominent today and the local school in Margaret River High School looks certain to be well represented in the finals across multiple ages with Creed McTaggart, Matt Baldock, Shaun Green, and the MacCauley sisters in Laura and Bronte all progressing through to the semi finals.

With requalification rounds across all divisions almost completed the scene at Margaret River is set for the serious end of this event as individual competitors head into their quarter finals and the schools divisions approach the teams pairs semi finals. While today was heavily wind swept with onshore winds, the waves were still high performance and served up plenty of size and power.

The really good news is the forecast that indicates perfect conditions for the coming weekends finals with offshore winds accompanied by plenty of swell and sunshine. With so many multiple divisions across individuals and school teams surfing, the event mini site, which is located on the front page of www.surfingaustralia.com is the place to find results spreadsheets across all these divisions.

Winners across the Boys and Girls 18 division and Boys 16 division will become automatic selections for the Australian Junior Team which will compete in Ecuador next March at the ISA World Junior Titles.

Finals will run this coming weekend.

Check the Live Action

This event is possible due to the support of Surfing Australia, Surfing Western Australia, Australian Schools Surfing Associations, Coastalwatch, Dept Sport & Recreation - WA, Quiksilver, Australian Sports Commission, SunSmart, Shire of Augusta Margaret River, Australia’s Surfing Life and Water Corporation - WA

The Australian Junior Surfing Titles will be running live scores, results, audio, photos and videos from the 1 - 7 December 2008 – Access the event mini site via the front page of surfingaustralia.com 

Previous reports:
# 1 : Australian Junior Surfing Titles launch at Margaret River
# 2 : Day #2 of Australian Junior Surfing Titles get good surf
# 3 : Coming soon
# 4 : Coming soon  

www.surfingaustralia.com

What's your take on this?
Post your thoughts: SV Forum

More Australasian Surfing News available here
Check the latest Australasian Surf Reports and Forecasts

New! B2B News ASBE-Surf   |  Receive News-Alerts

Steve Robertson

Contests - Surfersvillage