18 September, 2012 18 September, 2012

Country’s Top Juniors to contest Hurley SA Jnr Champs at J-Bay in October

The perfect waves at Jeffreys Bay will host the Hurley SA Junior Champs for the first time in the 16 year history of the event from 3-7 October.

Hurley SA Junior Champs
A Premier Surfing South Africa (SSA) event
The Point, Jeffreys Bay
3 – 7 October 2012

The country’s top young surfers will be flocking to the surfing Mecca of Jeffreys Bay next month to compete for prestigious team and individual national titles in the annual Hurley SA Junior Champs.

Scheduled for 3-7 October, this premier Surfing South Africa (SSA) event features the best 17-and-under surfers selected by their respective provincial associations and will be staged at the high performance surf break known as The Point for the first time in its 16 year history.

“Junior surfing is what drives the future of South Africa’s next crop of great surfers and the dream of adding to the pool of World Champion from our shores,” says Jevon le Roux, MD of Hurley SA. “Hurley is proud to be associated with Surfing South Africa’s Junior champs as the kids are an inspiration to us. We look forward to them showing up and blowing up at J-Bay in October.”

Competitors from defending team champions Western Province and hosts Eastern Province will be joined by squads from KZN Central, Southern KZN, Border, Boland, Zululand, Southern Cape and the SA Development Academy in their quest to secure the Freedom Cup and SA titles in Under 17, U15 and U13 categories for boys and girls.

Western Province will be determined to repeat their domination after a narrow second successive team victory in Durban last year. Josh Smit (KZN Central), Adin Masencamp (Boland) and Kai Woolf (EP) will be back to defend their U17 boys, U13 boys and U13 girls’ titles respectively while new champions will be crowned the other three of the six individual divisions.

Last year’s U17 girls’ champion Sarah Baum (KZNC) is now competing on the World Tour and U15 boys and girls’ champions, Max Armstrong (WP) and Tahra Uren (EP), have moved up to the U17 division leaving the way clear for the top contenders to stake their claim for a place in the annals of South African surfing history.

Eastern Province surfers, including 2011 finalists Tahra Uhren, Kai Woolf, Matt McGillivray (U15 boys) and Jose Faulkner (U13 boys), will benefit from hometown advantage at Jeffreys Bay but face strong challenges from the defending champions and the likes of McGillivray’s SA national teammates Benji Brand and Max Armstrong (both WP), Steffen Burrows (Boland), Nicole Pallet (KZNC) and Chanelle Botha (SKZN).

Others expected to contend for individual glory include Bryce Burness (KZNC), Diran Zakarian (Boland), Brandon Benjamin (WP) and Courtney Ellish (SKZN) in the U17’s; 2011 ’Surfer of the Contest’ Jordy Maree, fellow WP surfer Donovan Wichmann, Simo Mkhize (SKZN) and Anousch Zakarian (Boland) in the U15’s and Koby Oberholzer (KZNC) and Ethan Fletcher (WP) in the youngest division.

In addition to the national titles at stake, winners will also be crowned for the Citroën Surfer of the Contest, All Aboard Travel Highest Heat Score, Zigzag Blowing Up Award, the Red Bull AirShow and the Skullcandy Best Team Trophy, which is awarded to the provincial team that displays the best team spirit throughout the event.

Follow the event via the Hurley Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/Hurley.ZA and on Twitter @HurleyZA using the hashtag #sajuniorchamps. Daily blogs, interviews, video uploads, images and results will be posted on www.sajuniorchamps.co.za and can also be found at www.surfingsouthafrica.co.za.

The South African Development Team is supported by a grant from Sport and Recreation South Africa.

Surfing South Africa is recognised as the national governing body for the sport by the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) and Sport and Recreation SA. Surfing South Africa is a member of the International Surfing Association (ISA), the world’s governing body for surfing.

The 2012 Hurley SA Junior Champs is supported by Citroën, Skullcandy, Red Bull, Zigzag and All Aboard Travel.

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