Surf, sun, offshore winds and nearly 12 hours of surfing on Day Three of the 2007 O’Neill SA Junior Surfing Championships at Pollock Beach in Port Elizabeth, as organisers took full advantage of ideal conditions on what is probably the longest day of competition in any event this year.
There were no complaints from the surfers who made the most of the 3 foot surf which seemed to improve towards high tide at the end of the day.
After waiting for two days, it was the turn of the U12 Girls to take on Pollock Beach, and the seven contestants gave it their all in what for some of them was head-high surf.
The two surfers who won their first round heats and went straight to the final were Jenna van der Au of Southern Cape and Carryn MacNicol of Southern KZN, while the remaining five will surf one more heat each, after which the top two will join the early finalists in the age-group decider.
In the U14 Girls repercharge round, Macassar sisters Tylah (who is surfing for EP) and Monique Terblanche (representing Boland), Emma Smith of Border and Alex Morris of WP all went through to the quarter-finals, while Catherine Frey of Southern KZN, Sam Laing and Faye Zoetmulder of EP and Beulah Buitendag of Boland advanced through the U16 Girls repercharge to the quarters.
Lisa Mace of WP, Rashia Smith of KZN, Adele Nortje of Southern Cape and O’Neill team rider Caylin de Reuck of Boland were the surfers to advance to the U18 Girls’ quarter finals via the repercharge round.
With two competition days left the race for the Freedom Cup looks to be between KZN, WP and Border with EP close behind. The Freedom Cup is awarded to the team with the highest combined points.
The penultimate day will feature competition in all six divisions with the semi finals and finals set for Sunday. Sunday will also see the traditional O’Neill Superfreak show which is a surfing contest with a difference. The winners of the R1000 prize money will be the three surfers who are able to surf competitively while dressed up in the most outrageous costume.
The 2007 O’Neill South African Junior Championships is a premier Surfing South Africa’s tournament. The event was first held in 1996 and is now one of the most important events of the Surfing South Africa contest calendar as it not only determines National Champions in the Under 18, Under 16, Under 14 and Under 12 boys and girls age divisions but also decides the winning provincial team each year.
The defending champions are KwaZulu-Natal with hosts Eastern Province, Western Province, Boland, Border, Southern Cape, Southern KZN and the SA Development Academy team all participating. The heats, daily information and pictures of the 2007 O’Neill SA Junior Championships are available on the Surfing South Africa website.
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