Final Day: Sunday, September 30
Western Province reclaimed the Freedom Cup in fine style on the final day of the O'Neill SA Junior Championships in Port Elizabeth Sunday (September 30) when they convincingly beat the defending champions KZN by over 7000 points.
Western Province also won the Best Team Trophy for their genuine team spirit and support of each other throughout the championships.
The freedom Cup victory was due to a concerted effort by the whole team but was secured by the eight Western Province finalists, three of whom went on to win their respective divisions.
WP star Tarryn Chudleigh made history when she became the only girl to win the U14, U16 and U18 divisions beating Chantelle Rautenbach of Boland into second spot. Defending champion Nikita Robb of Border came third and Adele Nortje of Southern Cape was fourth.
The 2006 U14 champions Mikey February overcame EP's Steven Sawyer, fellow WP surfer Jarred Veldhuis and David Van Zyl of KZN.
WP's Max Armstrong powered to a 17 point heat score and kept the blue and white striped WP flag flying proudly when he successfully defended his title, beating Diran Zakarian of Boland, Dylan Lightfoot of EP and Daniel Buitendag of Southern Cape.
2007 National Junior Team captain Klee Strachan of Southern KZN added the U18 title to his U14 and U16 titles when he beat Kyle Beach of KZN, Kyle Galloway of Border and Justin Grey of EP while SA Team vice captain Shaun Joubert of Southern Cape won the U16 division when he beat Brendon Gibbens of WP, Dale Staples of Southern Cape and Matthew Bromley of WP respectively.
Surfer of the Contest Bianca Buitendag of Southern Cape posted a huge score of 17,25 to win the U14 girls division from KZN's Sarah Baum, Cara MacDonald of Border and Heidi Palmboom of KZN.
Alice Macgregor of Border took honours in the U16 Final beating Tanika Hoffman and Holly Armstrong of WP and Faye Zoetmulder of Eastern Province.
Carryn Macnicol earned Southern KZN their second title when she won the U12 girls division, beating Nicole Pallet of KZN, Jenna Van der Au of Southern Cape and Paige Meecham of Border in the final.
The Zig Zag Blowing Up Award and R1000 was presented to 10 year old Umzumbe surfer Simo Mkhize of the SA Development Team, the Most Improved Surfer was Papi Makhanyani of the SA Development Team and the Sportsmanship trophy was awarded to event hosts, Eastern Province Surfing Council.
FREEDOM CUP
- WESTERN PROVINCE: 38436
- KWA-ZULU-NATAL: 31298
- EASTERN PROVINCE: 31082
- BOLAND: 29006
- SOUTHERN KZN: 28900
- BORDER: 28132
- SOUTHERN CAPE: 27102
- DEVELOPMENT TEAM: 20450
Day Four : Saturday, September 29
Shaun Joubert of Southern Cape and Matthew Bromley of Western Province made their intentions clear on Day Four of the O'Neill SA Junior Championships at Pollock Beach in Port Elizabeth when they went head to head in their U16 division quarter final, posting the highest heat score of the event and only perfect 10 point ride in finishing first and second respectively.
Joubert, the 2007 SA Junior team vice captain and national teammate Bromley were in awesome form as they made the most of the clean 3 foot surf and although Bromley's perfect 10 backed up by an 8.5 should have seen him win the heat Joubert's 9,75 and 9,25 wave scores gave him the victory by 0,50.
The Under 12 girls who will contest the final are Nicole Pallet (KZN), Paige Meecham (Bor), Jenna Van Der Au (Southern Cape) and Carryn Macnicol (SKZN) while the six U12 Boys semi finalists include defending champion Max Armstrong (WP), Daniel Buitendag (Southern Cape), Dane Van Greunen and Dylan Lightfoot (both EP), Diran Zakarian (Bol) and Slade Prestwich (Southern KZN).
Jean du Plessis (Bor), Jeandre Blignault (Bol), Daniel Wilson, Jarred Veldhuis and defending champion Mikey February (all WP) and David Van Zyl and Mikey Venter (both KZN) are the U14 Boys semi finalists.
Tanika Hoffman and Holly Armstrong (both WP), Catherine Frey (Southern KZN), Jessica Swart (KZN), Faye Zoetmulder (EP) and Alice Mc Gregor (Bor) are the U16 girls semi finalists while the six U16 Boys joining Joubert and Bromley are Dale Staples (Southern Cape), Beyrick de Vries, Devin Lane and Blake Freegard (all KZN), Brendon Gibbens (WP) and Brett Palmboom (Southern KZN).
The six U18 Girls semi finalists are defending champion Nikita Robb (Bor), Chantelle Rautenbach and Caylin de Reuck (both Bol), Tarryn Chudleigh and Lisa Mace (both WP) and Adele Nortje (Southern Cape) and the U18 Boys who make up the final eight are defending champion Kyle Lane and KZN teammates Kyle Beach and Chad du Toit, 2007 SA junior team captain Klee Strachan (Southern KZN), Aran Moore (WP), Rory Gibson (Southern Cape), Kyle Galloway (Bor) and local hope Justin Grey (EP).
Apart from the semi finals and finals the fifth day at the 2007 O'Neill SA Junior Championships will include a bit of fun as the traditional O'Neill Superfreak show brings the 12th SA Junior Championships to a close...
Day Three : Friday, September 28
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
Organisers took full advantage of ideal conditions on Day Three of the O'Neill SA Junior Championships at Pollock beach in Port Elizabeth running nearly 12 hours of heats 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. The remaining five will surf one more heat and the top two will join the finalists.
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 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.
In the U12 boys division Simo Mkhize of the Development Team, Jason Harris of Southern KZN, Murray Varnfield of Border and Dane van Greunen of EP went through from the repercharge round to the quarter finals while the U14 boys quarter finals were decided after a tense round Three produced an upset with the elimination of Dane Staples of Southern Cape.
David Van Zyl, Kane Bennewith, Mikey Venter and Cullen Collopy of KZN, Mikey February, Jarred Veldhuis, Daniel Wilson and Dominic Notten of WP are all in the U14 quarters along with Jeandre Blignault of Boland, Steven Sawyer of EP and Border surfers Phillip Britz and Jean du Plessis.
The Under 16 quarter finalists are made up of KZN surfers Devin Lane, Beyrick de Vries, Blake Freegard and Scott le Fevre, the WP contingent of Matthew Bromley, Peter van der Merwe, Brendon Gibbens and JC Susan, Dale Staples and Shaun Joubert of Southern Cape, Logan Phillpot of Border and Brett Palmboom of Southern KZN.
Defending U18 champion Kyle Lane, 2006 Under 16 champion Chad Du Toit and KZN team mate Kyle Beach are all through to the U18 Boys quarter finals along with Aran Moore and O'Neill team rider Daniel Mace of WP, Donovan Zoetmulder and Justin Grey of EP, Lungani Memani and Kyle Galloway of Border, Rory Gibson of Southern Cape, Klee Strachan of Southern KZN and Tommie Kruger of Boland.
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.
Day Two: Thursday, September 27
The 2007 O'Neill SA junior Championships second day saw a great day of surfing with 3ft waves and alight to mild offshore breeze, making conditions really workable for the all the contestants, who revelled in the great surf, after dealing with some testing onshore waves on the first day.
Day 2 saw impressive surfing by Under 18 division surfers Bertie Stuurman, who, EP surfers Justin Grey and Donovan Zoetmulder; and ISA scholarship winner Lungani Memani of Border; 2007 national junior team captain, aswell as impressive surfing from Klee Strachan scoring the highest heat total for the day.
Tarryn Chudleigh, the best South African surfer at the 2007 ISA World Junior Surfing Championships and winner of the recent O'Neill Cold Water Classic in Cape Town, is the top seed in the WP Under 18 team where she will be backed up by former national junior team member Lisa Mace.
Surfers to watch in this group are O'Neill team rider Caylin de Reuck of Boland who progressed into the quarter finals to be surfed on sateray with other O'Neill team rider Danielle Jonson.
Two time national junior team member Matthew Bromley and fellow WP surfers, 2006 finalist Brendon Gibbens, JC Susan and Peter van der Merwe; national junior team vice captain Shaun Joubert and national team mate Dale Staples of Southern Cape; the KZN trio of Beyrick de Vries, Devin Lane and Blake Freegard and Bolanders David Solomon, look the pick of the Under 16 boys division who all go into the third round tomorrow.
And 2007 national junior team member Tanika Hoffman and WP team mate Holly Armstrong; Alice Mc Gregor of Border; Kirsty Delport of KZN; Faye Zoetmulder of EP; Morag Steele of Boland and Laura Oppel of Southern KZN have the best contest pedigrees in the Under 16 girls.
Defending champion Michael February and Jarred Veldhuis fly the flag for WP in the under 14 boys division where Dane Staples of Southern Cape, Cane Benewith & amp; O'Neill Team rider Phillip Britz will be the surfers to watch as they progress into the quarter finals on Friday.
In the under 14 girls division the battle for honours between Southern Cape star Bianca Buitendag and KZN prodigies Sarah Baum and Heidi Palmboom looks set to continue in PE but Alex Morris and Sabrina Scott of WP could surprise the favourites...
The under 12 boys division features the youngest surfers in the 2007 O'Neill SA Junior Championships but is certainly one of the most competitive divisions in next week's tournament.
Diran Zakarian of Boland, Max Armstrong of WP, Slade Prestwich of Southern KZN, & amp; Lightfoot of EP are the pick of the group, going into the quarters for Friday.
Sunday will also showcase the traditional O'Neill Superfreak Show, a fancy dress heat where participants can win up to R1000 for the most outrageous costume.
Members of the National Selection Panel will be in attendance at the O'Neill event and the names of the SA Junior Surfing squad from which the 2008 SA Junior Team will be selected will be announced at the prize-giving ceremony.
Check back tomorrow for day 3 update, as the quarter finals of many of the divisions take place and things start hotting up, as we see some fantastic surf predicted for Friday and saterday.
Day One: Wednesday, September 26
After a successful opening function at the Summerstrand Hotel on Tuesday evening. Team's from around the country displayed their National team uniforms & amp; colours with pride, as the South African Junior champs were opened to the delight of over 250 junior competitors, all hoping to be part of the winning team to be crowned the 2007 National Champions.
Up for grabs is also the highly prestigious SA Junior Champion title for each of the four respective divisions in both the Boys and Girls.
The 2007 O'Neill South African Junior Champs opened with a first ever, "Team march past" with all competitors and teams in their provincial team uniforms, as the event was opened and the surfing games declared to begin.
The first heat kicked off in 3ft onshore, testing and windy conditions at the Pipe, on the Port Elizebeth beachfront at 9am sharp.
Conditions proved difficult for many of the country's top Juniors, as the U18, U16 & U14 boys divisions were tested against the elements, battling it out for the top two places to make it through to the second round.
From Day one, standouts Matt Bromley from Western Province and Slade Prestwich from Team Winners for 2006, Kwazulu Natal have been showcasing there talents, to illustrate to all spectators and surfers alike, that the level of surfing at this event, no matter what the conditions, is going to be top notch.
With the wind predicted to drop for the second day and the swell expected to stay in the 3ft range, spirits are running high for an exciting day in store for everyone tomorrow.
Stay tuned for Update #2, as the highlights of the O'Neill South African Junior Champs unfold.
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