Gina Takes Grommet Games U16 Title

Gina Smith took the Girl’s U16 championship title at the 17th running of the Reef Wetsuits SA Grommet Games, in fine surf and excellent weather at the Pipe, Pollock Beach in Port Elizabeth on Sunday, with Nikita Kekana finishing a close second behind her.

Southern KwaZulu-Natal’s Jordyn Vanhoutte beat Southern Cape’s Roxy Giles to the U14 Girls title, while Courtenay Ellish pipped Inga McLaren to the title in the Girls U12 division.

Close on 150 girls and boys from seven provinces took part in the annual event which is Surfing South Africa’s most significant and important entry level Inter-Provincial tournament, with Reef Wetsuits, Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism and Sport and Recreation South Africa all contributing to the success of the 17th Games, a highlight at the annual Friendly City’s Splash Festival every Easter.

A wet start to the event was soon forgotten as the sun came out and the offshore began to blow. All aspects of the tournament were completed without a hitch and the surfers, who came from as far afield as the rural villages of Southern KZN and from all parts of the Eastern and Western Cape, took the opportunity to enjoy themselves.

The SA Grommet Games is a tournament with a primary focus on transformation and development within the sport’s provincial structures are set strict criteria when it comes to selecting their teams for the four days of competition.

While the main focus of the event is on surfing, participation in events such as a paddle battle, beach flags and tag team competition is also included in the activities with the most participative and successful team earning the right to the Best Team Trophy at the tournament.

Border, who draw their surfers from East London and parts of Transkei, repeated their victory of 2007 and were unanimously awarded the Best Team trophy for 2008.

The Nelson Mandela Bay Trophy, which is awarded to the provincial team with the highest combination of scores from the individual surfing results as well as the results from the Tag Team, Paddle Battle and Beach Flags, went to Western Province for the third year in a row.

Hosts Eastern Province were second with 2007 runners up, Boland, in third place this time. The enthusiastic Southern KZN team were fourth, Border were fifth, Southern Cape came sixth and KZN were seventh.