3376

Kerri Hodgkinson was the cream of the crop as Cape Town’s top female surfers tamed the elements by surfing with grace, style and no shortage of good old-fashioned guts in the Women’s Day Surf Challenge held in wild 1- to 1.5 metre waves, rain and strong wind at Long Beach in Kommetjie on Monday.

Presented by Surfing South Africa, the inaugural Women’s Day Surf Challenge saw events scheduled for three venues nationally and while the Durban event had to be postponed due the sardine run and shark sightings at Bay of Plenty, the Cape Town and Port Elizabeth based contests went ahead in typical wintery weather.

When the results of the Cape Town event were finalised, Kerri Hodgkinson had won the Open division, 2010 SA Junior Team member Tanika Hoffman clinched the U20 title and Amy Bosworth triumphed in the U16 category.

Each of the three divisions were 1A rated Pro Surf Tour (PST) events with a total of R2 500 in prize-money at stake and the results counting towards the annual PST rankings.

Hoffman and recently selected 2010 SA Team member Stacey Guy each received a Power Balance Band when they were adjudged to be the Power Balance ‘Power Surfers’ of the event. Eight of the surfers, judges and officials were rewarded with prize packs which included Skullcandy headphones, Power Balance bands and other cool stuff in the lucky draws.

The Derevko wetsuit was awarded to Jules Buchanan and a total of R1100 was raised for CANSA in the raffle for the surfboard, which was won by Anoush Zakarian.

All the finalists received custom-made trophies and medals and to crown a great initiative Amy Bosworth donated one of her surfboards to the SSA development programme.

Listen to Cape Talk on 567 MW at 8.30am each morning to hear Jeff Ayliffe’s interviews with some of the girls at the event.

The Women’s Day Surf Challenge is supported by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund and Sport & Recreation SA while the media partners for the events are gsport … for Girls! and Saltwater Girl magazine.

The Women’s Day Surf Challenge is proudly partnered by Skullcandy, Power Balance, Billabong, VonZipper, Rip Curl, Aquarius Screenprinting and Vic Bay T Shirts. Additional prizes are provided by Surf Centre PE, Pull-In Underwear, Glaceau Vitamin Water and Derevko wetsuits.

Surfing South Africa is recognized by Sport and Recreation SA (SRSA) as the governing body for the sport. SSA is a member of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) and the International Surfing Association (ISA).