National junior surfing team member Sarah Scott is the 2023 Junior South Africa Surfing champion, after five hard days of competition at Lower Point in Jeffreys Bay, and concluding in perfect conditions on Sunday, 8 October, 2023.
The 27th edition of the Sea Harvest SA Junior Surfing Championships presented by SMTH Shapes and supported by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture and the National Lotteries Commission.
Golden girl and 2023 national junior team member Louise Lepront (Nelson Mandela Bay Surfriders) took the U16 Girls title, and Emily Jenkinson (Cape Town Surfriders) completed an excellent competitive year to become the U14 Girls Champion.
In the U12 Girls final, tiny Maya Malherbe (Buffalo City Surfriders) -the only surfer to score a 10 point ride in the contest – took honours in the U12 Girls Division.
In the team competition, after five tough days the Western Cape based Cape Town Surfriders team reclaimed the coveted Freedom Cup from the 2022 winners, Buffalo City. The Freedom Cup is awarded to the team accumulating the highest points across all divisions at the five day tournament.
Their victory margin over runners up, event hosts Nelson Mandela Bay, was 45375 points to 38506 points.The Capetonians claimed three of the eight individual national titles at stake while Nelson Mandela Bay and Ugu took home two championship titles each. Winelands Surfriders scored 36986 points and came third, their best result at the national junior championships in 27 years while 2022 champions Buffalo City were fourth with 36704 points.
The spirited and enthusiastic eThekweni from Durban came fifth with 36217 points but went back to KZN as the deserving winners of the Loud and Proud Trophy. eThekweni’s northern neighbours, Ilembe posted 35814 points to finish sixth and Ugu, from the southern part of KZN, scored 30391 points to end seventh. Garden Route based Eden Surfriders came eighth with 27604 points.
In addition to crowning the 2023 South African age group champions, Surfing South Africa also announced the names of the surfers who claimed the top spots on the U12, U14 and U16 Sea Harvest SA Junior Surf Tour. The 2023 SAST Champions are Louise Lepront (U16 Girls), Emily Jenkinson (U14 Girls), and Maya Malherbe ( U12 Girls). The U18 Champions will be announced on completion of the Reef Classic in Victoria Bay in two weeks time.
Results of the 2023 SAST in these divisions can be viewed under Rankings on www.liveheats.com/surfingsouthafrica
All the individual Heat Results from Round One to the Finals can be found on www.liveheats.com/surfingsouthafrica
Photos from all five days of competition are posted on the Surfing SA Facebook page. .
The 2023 SA Junior Surfing Championships was sponsored by Sea Harvest, presented by SMTH shapes and supported by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture and the National Lotteries Commission. The event was streamed live by True Technologies. Kouga Municipality played host to this premier junior tournament for the tenth year in a row.
Photo Caption: Sarah Scott has emerged as the 2023 Junior South Africa Surfing champion, after five hard days of competition at Lower Point in Jeffreys Bay, while the Cape Town Surfriders reclaimed the Freedom Cup from Buffalo City. Photo: Supplied