Williams Shines on GBR Grand Final Day But Marsden Wins Double

The young guns of the Geraldton Board Riders put on an awesome display of surfing on Sunday for the GBR Grand Final Day to show that the future is bright for the sport of surfing in Geraldton. The event was held in nice 2-3 foot waves at Headbutts and although there were some amazing barrel rides and some really high scores posted, surfers needed to work hard to get the best waves and to make the most of their opportunities when the good waves came through.

Danny Williams was a stand out on the day with his ever reliable combination of speed and power moves, which won him first place in both the Open and Junior divisions in the Grand Final. It was Max Marsden, however, who also surfed well in both of these divisions on the day, and who has been the stand out surfer in the Open and Junior divisions this year, who was rightfully crowned club champion in both of these divisions for 2010. Max held out younger brother Brady in the Open division, and consistent performer Mitchell Baillee in the Junior Division.

In the Masters division, Cayden Catto used his win on Grand Final Day to go one better in 2010 by securing the title of club champion. He had to work hard though, with experienced campaigner and runner up Leon Norris pushing him all the way. While Norris was beaten by Kim Burton on Grand Final Day in the Grand Masters division, he surfed well enough on the day and consistently well across all three GBR qualifying events to claim back the GBR Grand Masters title for 2010.

In the Cadet Division, Harry Wellington’s consistent performances this year were rewarded with both victory in the Grand Final and the title of Cadet division champion for 2010. And in the Women’s division, Erin Eames and Dimitra Carter continued their friendly rivalry out in the water, Eames just doing enough on Grand Final Day to hold out Carter and claim the Women’s division title for 2010.

Damien Fleming, who scored barrel of the day on Saturday, was awarded the Ry Craike Rising Star award in recognition of his potential to excel in the sport of surfing in future years.

Attention now turns to the Sunshine Surf Masters, which will be held next Saturday and Sunday at Flat Rocks. The GBR is calling on all local surfers to support this event, which is the longest running boardriders club surfing event in WA. Anyone wanting to enter the event can do so via the GBR website (www.gerosurf.com.au). If you can make it down to Flat Rocks over the weekend, the surfing action will be amazing. If you can’t make it down to Flat Rocks, log onto www.gerosurf.com.au to watch it live, thanks to WA Country Builders.

Event 2 Headbutts June 27 2010

Geraldton Board Riders Club policy of only holding club events in good quality surf is not the easiest to manage for organisers and competitors. Proposed contest dates are posted on the club’s website and the decision to go ahead or postpone is sometimes left to the decision of the contest director the day before. The upside is the reward the surfers have in knowing they will compete in class waves offering them the opportunity to perform and display their skills in a welcome arena. On Sunday GBR surfers were again on the receiving end of excellent waves as event 2 for 2010 hit the water at Headbutts Beach south of Flat Rocks.

There were hoots from the beach with perfect waves in view as organisers set up the contest venue and surfers made their way into the chilly ocean for a ‘warm-up’ surf.  As expected the standard was high in all divisions with scores of 9/10 being posted by the likes of Danny Williams and Max Marsden.

The Open Final was a battle Royale between a good spread of ages from 17 to 47. Newcomer Dale Wheatley certainly raised some eyebrows as he systematically progressed to the Open Final and picked up one excellent ride in the deciding event  but needed another high scorer to challenge the likes of Max Marsden and Danny Williams who were going head to head boosting big aerial manoeuvres and seeking critical tube rides.

Jai McCrides made the trip from Pert h and blazed to an impressive win in the Masters final over State Champion Ross Fleming, but was unable to match Marsden and Williams who were on fire in the action packed Open Final with Max Marsden a narrow winner over Danny Williams.

The Junior final was equally as dramatic with Max Marsden again proving he is the form surfer winning over local stand-out James Fleming.

The Grand Masters relished in the head high waves with Leon Norris linking together strong turns on the best waves of the final, continuing his good State contest form.

Erin Eames also returning from a good State result at Rottnest opened her account with an overhead right hander all the way to the beach which was the decider in taking the Open Women’s from Dimitra Carter.

The next event in Geraldton is round 3 of the Junior State Titles. This event, July 24/25th will decide the State Champions and who will represent WA in the Australian Titles so the competition will b fierce. The next GBR club event is proposed for Sunday August 1st. All the r pics from Sunday’s event are available at gerosurf.com.au just click the Facebook link!

Results Event 2:
Open: Max Marsden, Danny Williams, Dale Wheatley, Jai McCrides
Junior:  Max Marsden, James Fleming,  Danny Williams, Mitchell Baillee
Women: Erin Eames, Dimitra Carter
Masters: Jai McCrides, Ross Fleming, Peter Stone, Ross Middleton
Grand Masters: Leon Norris, Dale Wheatley, Ross Middleton, Dave Williams.

Geraldton Board Riders Club points season got underway Sunday May 2 at Flat Rocks.

A powerful 3 metre swell met competitors for the 7.30 start with good conditions provided by a light SE wind.
Condition were challenging at times and the incoming tide made the entry off the reef very tricky for the un-initiated. 
Waves were consistent with sets in the overhead range providing plenty of push. 
The surfing standard was very high with the solid swells providing excellent opportunities for surfers to excel.

With the absence of several top local surfers the Open Division was an opportunity for many of the younger surfers to grab a finals berth. 
Brothers Max and Brady Marsden did well to make the final in a tough field and didn’t disappoint taking on seasoned GBR surfers Kim Burton and 2009 Masters runner-up  Cayden Catto. Rye Craike rising start awardee Max Marsden put on an awesome display of radical surfing beyond his years and took out the event from a determined Cayden Catto with Brady Marsden 3rd and Kim Burton grabbing  4th place.

In the Masters (over 30s) Final Catto again placed second this time behind Ross Fleming, 2009 Open runner-up, who was in scintillating form providing spectators with an exhibition of full power surfing. 3rd place went to  Grand Masters champion Leon Norris with Peter Stone in 4th.

Both the Juniors and Cadet Finals were won convincingly by James Fleming. James was a recent finalist in the Junior State Round in Margaret River and has been selected to attend the prestigious Mark Richards high performance coaching clinic in Queensland this month. Brady Marsden and Max Marsden finished 2 7 3 in the Junior final with Harry Wellington and Fletcher Cremasco 2 & 3 in the Cadets.

The Womens Division final saw Dimitra Carter in a very close battle with Port Gregory surfer Erin Eames.

The Grand Masters (over 45s) final had plenty of solid waves on offer and lots of great surfing from these experienced finalists. Leon Norris won the event from Kim Burton, Sam Salmond and Ross Middleton.

The next club event is scheduled for June 13th but the next big local event is the State Open/Masters Sate Round coming up Saturday and Sunday 15/16 May at Flat Rocks. GBR are encouraging as many locals surfers as possible to take advantage of competing in  a State Round in Geraldton. Details and entries available from gerosurf home page
 

Well worth the wait for GBR Event 3!

Burton on top for GBR 2009 Grand Final

The Geraldton Board Riders held its third and final qualifying event on Saturday 1st August.

It was a beautiful day down at Flat Rocks.  Light offshore winds and smooth 3-4ft waves provided some of the best surfing conditions the club has had in recent years and the surfing on the day was equally good. Over 40 competitors took part and everyone had a great day and caught some nice waves.

The Open final was very close, with all surfers getting good rides. Brenten Burton ended up with the highest scoring two wave combination. Burton went right on his first wave - something he does more than most at Flat Rocks – and it paid off. He combined a big re-entry and roundhouse cutback out the back with a big tail-sliding vertical whack on the inside. He backed that up with a left on which he linked up a number of smooth but critical turns on the inside.  These two waves were enough to hold out Cayden Catto, Ross Fleming and Justin Hagan, who all got high scoring waves as well but couldn’t match Burton’s form on the day. Fittingly, these four surfers hold the top four positions in the Open division, with Burton going into the Grand Final day on top.

Catto, Fleming and Hagan also featured in the Masters division final. Again, all surfers locked in high scoring rides. In the end, Fleming prevailed. His characteristic big power turns received higher scores from the judges and were enough to withstand the expected challenge from Hagan, who wasn’t able to repeat the perfect 10 he received from the judges for one of his waves in the semi final. Hagan goes into Grand Final day with a small lead over Catto.

In the Junior division final, Jake Fawcett showed why he is currently one of the best surfers in the State. With the move of the day, Fawcett powered out of his first bottom turn on a big left hander, punched through the lip and whipped his board around in mid air before sliding down sideways over head high pounding white water and continuing down the line. With surfing like this, there was little doubt Fawcett was going to win the final. Jesse Carter and James Fleming, who also had impressive results this year in the Junior State Series, and Mitchell Baillee, also surfed well.  Fawcett leads Baillee and Fleming going into Grand Final day.

There were plenty of waves surfed in the Cadet final. After bowing out early in the Junior division, Damien Fleming showed his capabilities in the Cadet final. With the two highest scoring waves of the heat, he was a clear winner over Jesse Carter, his brother James and Sam Baker. The boys will not only be taking good form into the GBR Grand Final day but also the Regional Schools Surfing Titles, to be held in the week before. This is a great event for local schools to participate in.

Leon Norris was back to his best in the Grand Masters, winning his first event for the year. Brett Schofield also surfed well to secure second place. They’ll surf against other finalists Andrew Benzie and Kim Burton on Grand Final day to see who claims the GBR Grand Masters title for 2009.

In the Womens division Jaimee Wheatley and Dimitra Carter both surfed well. Wheatley won on the day, although Carter will be going into Grand Final day in first place.

The GBR would like to thank everyone who attended and Billabong, DaKine and the Corner surf Shop for sponsoring the event.

Attention now turns to the GBR Grand Final Day, scheduled for Saturday 15 August, when club champions for 2009 will be decided. For all the details on local surfing, check out the GBR's local surfing website at www.gerosurf.com.au. 

RESULTS:

Hot surfing action for GBR's second comp for 2009 

The Geraldton Board Riders held its second surfing competition for the 2009 season at Flat Rocks on Saturday. 

Organizers and competitors couldn’t have hoped for better conditions with sunshine, light to moderate winds mainly from the east and a small to moderate swell pushing great waves through Flat Rocks all day.  46 entrants competed for extra points and prizes and had a great day and some great waves in the process. 

The perfect conditions allowed for plenty of good surfing to be displayed throughout the day.  There were some very close heats and a number of heats went to count back.  Judges were constantly in the hot seat, having to rank consecutive or even simultaneous good scoring rides. 

The Open division final went down to the wire and was one of the best heats witnessed in recent years. Each surfer seemed to raise the bar with every wave caught. This culminated with Justin Hagan receiving a score of 9.5 out of a possible 10 for a left hander in the middle of the heat on which he executed about 6 big whipping re-entries including one amazing "fins out the back" vertical whack. But the other finalists weren't done with yet. With only seconds to go, Brenton Burton and Jai Macrides split a set wave that hit the Flat Rocks reef perfectly. Macrides on the left performed a series of smooth but critical maneuvers for which he received a score of 8.5. Burton on the right pulled off an unbelievable vertical re-entry that literally shocked the crowd. He followed this up with an airborne floater on the inside. Burton received a 9 and was only edged out by Hagan on count back. Burton, however, goes into the third qualifying event in first place after winning the first event. 

Hagan backed up his win in the Open division with first place in the hotly contested Masters division. Macrides and first event winner Cayden Catto pushed Hagan to produce his best in the final. 

Just like in the Open and the Masters divisions, the Junior and Cadets divisions on Saturday were both won by the same surfer - James Fleming. Fleming picked up some of the best waves on the day and was one of the stand out surfers for the event with a style that belies his age.  He was pushed all the way though by the likes of his brother Damien, and Max Marsden in the Juniors. These results will help the lads in their preparation for the next Junior State round at Triggs Point in a couple of weeks. 

The absence of some big names in the Womens division allowed other girls to shine. In an entertaining final that included some great rides by all the girls, it was Dimitra Carter who ended up prevailing with a couple of high scoring rides. 

While Ian "Sam" Salmond was able to outscore Kim "Wacka" Burton in the semi final of the Grand Masters division, Whacka got the higher scores in the final. This backs up Burton's win in the first event and makes him the clear leader in the Grand Masters division for 2009.

The GBR would like to thank all sponsors of the event and everyone who attended.  The next big event on the local surfing calendar is the 2nd Open State Round and Junior Pro to be held in Geraldton on 2 and 3 May.  This will bring the best surfers in the State to Geraldton and will allow local rippers to compete at the State level.  The third and final GBR club event for 2008 will be on Sunday 17 May.  If the first two events are anything to go by, the third event should not be missed.

 Results:

Geraldton Boardriders Club  2009 contest season  got off to a great start with the first event  attracting 60 competitors. Sunday’s venue was Flat Rocks and competitors were greeted with glassy conditions and small to medium waves. The wind kicked in offshore from the NE during the morning creating the opportunity for tube rides with Kim Burton picking up a 9 point barrel ride in his heat.

The young Cadets revelled in the small conditions providing plenty of action combined with high performance surfing  in their final. There was a tough tussle for first place between the Fleming brothers James and Damien for first place honours as only 1 point separated the two with James doing the better.

The Junior division had to contend with inconsistent waves but when they did arrive the action was hot. Max Marsden established a lead early with a good strong ride all the way to the key-hole then Jake Fawcett found a couple to his liking. Max responded to the call to nudge out Jake towards the end of the final grabbing 1^st place.

The Masters final was also starved for waves but that didn’t stop Justin Hagan posting a 7.8 ride and brother Deon following up with a tidy 7 but it was a welcome return to contest surfing for Cayden Catto who picked up two good waves with scores of 6.8 and 6.5 laving both the Hagans searching for a good back up ride as time ran out.

In the Grand Masters it was the Kim ‘Wack’ Burton show as he turned his magnet on full and picked up every good set waves to blow away the competition. Rossco Middleton fought back hard but was no match for Kim’s superior wave selection and radical surfing.

In the Women’s GBR welcomed back Jaimee Wheatley from her stint away in the women’s WQS  events. Jaimee showed why she is one of Australia’s top surfers with a dynamic display of high quality women’s surfing.

The final of the blue ribbon Open Division was missing a few favourites with the surprise eliminations of Justin Hagan, Jai McCrides and Jake Fawcett  leaving a field of finalists aged from 14 to 40. Kit Rayner was another welcome return to GBR  and his explosive surfing was certainly a crowd pleaser. He started with an excellent 8 point ride snapping off several beyond vertical backhand moves and looked to be impossible to beat. Brenten Burton had other plans though and after a mediocre start found his form and answered back with a superb 8 point ride of his own. The battle was on for a good back-up ride and Kit managed a 6 pointer which looked to be enough until Brenten picked up a beauty in the dying seconds to nudge out Kit on a count-back by the narrowest of margins.

GBR’s next event is scheduled for Saturday April 4^th and new members are most welcome to join. There is also an opportunity to become a fully accredited surfing coach with Surfing WA conducting a Level 1 coaching course April 25/26 in Geraldton Places are limited to 16 and details are on www.gerosurf.com.au

Contest Director

Leon Norris

(full results for each division below)

OPEN WOMENS:

1)      Jaimee Wheatley

2)      Lorena Perrin

3)      Dimitra Carter

MASTERS:

1)      Cayden Catto

2)      Justin Hagan

3)      Deon Hagan

4)      Leon Norris

GRAND MASTERS:

1)      Kim Burton

2)      Ross Middleton

3)      Bob Fawcett

4)      Leon Norris

JUNIORS:

1)      Max Marsden

2)      Jake Fawcett

3)      Damien Fleming

4)      Mitchell Bailee

Cadets:

1)      James Fleming

2)      Damien Fleming

3)      Sam Baker

4)      Harry Wellington

5)      Will Stanton

OPEN MENS:

1)      Brenten Burton

2)      Kit Rayner

3)      Max Marsden

4)      Ross Fleming