Jake Elkington prepares for the start of the Pro Junior season with some barrel time in Cape Town.
Press Release – Friday – 15 Feb 2013: The Billabong Junior Series presented by Bos is set to begin at New Pier in Durban over the weekend 2 / 3 March 2013. The series has been bolstered by the inclusion of Sony as a co-sponsor and along with all the other prizes on hand, the contestants will now be eligible to win an array of cutting-edge Sony products as well.
After careful consideration and consulting with Surfing South Africa, there have been a few positive changes to the structure of the series. To adhere to SSA rulings, all the finalists of all divisions (except the U20 division), will be receiving prizemoney, and all semi-finalists will be receiving product prizes. Another exciting new addition to the series is the Nixon Winner Takes All (WTA) contest, where the Highest Heat Score of each event will see that surfer receive a WTA engraved Nixon Watch.
The U20 Boys and U20 Girls divisions have been opened up, and the first 14 Boys and the first 6 Girls who enter and pay will be accepted into the event. These two divisions are restricted to surfers who are 19 or 20 (they may not turn 21 in 2013). These surfers will be joined by the winners of the U16 and U18 divisions for the boys, and the winner and the runner up of the U18 division for girls. There will be a winner takes all R10k prize for the Girls and for the Boys. Entries are open on surfingsouthafrica.co.za and will close on 25 February 2013.
At the culmination of the series Billabong will be offering 6 sponsorships, comprising coaching, photo incentives, contest entry fees, contest incentives and product across the Billabong brands, coming in at a value of R75k per sponsorship. Billabong brands involved in the sponsorships include Billabong, DaKine, VonZipper, Kustom and Kinetic Racing Fins. These sponsorships will be offered to six deserving, unsponsored surfers who are deemed worthy by Billabong South Africa.
The sandbanks at the contest venue, New Pier in Durban, are in perfect form at the moment, and there is a very good chance that the contestants will score excellent waves for the inaugural event of the series.
The Billabong Junior Series is sanctioned by Surfing South Africa. National PST Points will be allocated to each division as per Surfing South Africa guidelines. There will be no PST points allocated in the U20 division. Surfing South Africa is recognised by the South African Sports Confederation (SASCOC) as the governing body of the sport in South Africa.
