SOUL Australian Longboard Titles
Harley Ingleby e Chelsea Williams coroados CAMPEÕES Open para 2007
TEXTO ORIGINAL EM INGLÊS
Retirado do site: SurfingAustralia.
Fantastic waves and huge scores for the final day of the SOUL Australian Longboard Titles held at North Haven Beach near Port Macquarie saw Harley Ingelby (Coff’s Harbour) and Chelsea Williams (Tweed Heads) take the Open Men’s and Women’s titles for 2007.
It was Ingelby’s second SOUL Australian Open Longboard Title following his win in 2005 and Williams’ 3rd win following victories in 2004 and 2005.
Ingelby survived a very close final against 3 time Australian and defending Open champion Josh Constable (Noosa). At the half way point of the final Ingelby looked safely clear having posted two strong rides but Constable brought the final to life with an amazing 9 point ride to suddenly overtake Ingelby in first place.
“I knew Constable would throw out a challenge at some stage but I wasn’t expecting him to get a 9 point ride and really apply the pressure – I remained calm, stuck to my plan which was to simply improve my score and fortunately I scored that 8.5 ride late in the final and won – It feels great because it was such a good final with high scores and excellent waves.”
Constable was disappointed having scored the highest wave of the final but not being able to win –“ I needed a better 2nd scoring ride and just couldn’t find a suitable wave in the end – I only needed a 7.25 to win and in these waves that’s not hard to get but time was my enemy out there and I simply couldn’t get the wave – Full credit to Harley though, he’s a great surfer and deserves the title.”
Queensland surfers Grant Thomas and Jackson Close finished 3rd and 4th in the final but had little impact with Ingelby and Constable always well ahead.
Chelsea Williams had a vastly different final. She absolutely dominated and was a class above her rivals today to take a most impressive win. Two excellent wave scores left all her opponents chasing a combination of scores to try and catch her but such was Williams class and style that a challenger was not forthcoming. Popular local surfer Cath Perry did well to finish 2nd ahead of WA surfer Georgia Young with Qld’s Monique Keane in fourth place.
“It’s great to win a third Australian Title and I’m really looking forward to all the international events in the coming 12 months. I feel I’m surfing better than ever and I’m confident of winning every time I compete.”
The Junior Men’s division provided the biggest surprise of the event. Bryce Young (Angourie/NSW) had dominated throughout the event and in his semi final earlier today put on an amazing performance and posted the events highest scoring ride of a 9.5. He went into the final a red hot favourite but unfortunately he seemed to have peaked in his semi and struggled to find the right connecting waves in his final placing 3rd behind classy Sydney surfer Dan McComb (Harbord) who won convincingly with Victori’a Adam Lynch (Geelong) coming 2nd.
Junior Girls saw Sunshine Coast Caloundra surfer Monique Keane take a deserved win. It was Keane’s first SOUL Australian Longboard Titles and she did well to also make the Open Women’s final where she placed fourth.
All the senior divisional winners were decided and across all divisions the surfing standard was exceptional and high scores were essential to take a title today. Special mention must go to Central Coast NSW surfer Danny Bond (Shelley Beach) who won the over 60 Men’s and he now has an incredible 11 Australian Longboard Titles!
South Australia’s Jason Russell broke the NSW/Qld domination by taking a very popular and first Longboard title in 15 ears for the “crows” with his win in the over 40’s division.
The Teams event was again surfed with passion and Queensland came home the strongest and tactically the smartest to take the Teams Title for 2007 with Victoria in 2nd place, NSW 3rd, WA 4th and SA in 5th.
It was a perfect day to finish the event with ideal weather and waves and Surfing NSW are very optimistic about making the event bigger and even better in 2008 with Port Macquarie the planned destination again.
In the end the NSW Team took 6 titles, Qld 4, SA 1 and 1 went to wild card surfer Harley Ingelby (Coff’s Harbour).
Full Result spreadsheets across all divisions can be found at www.surfingaustralia.com
The SOUL Australian Longboard Titles is proudly supported by NSW Government, Tourism NSW, Port Macquarie Hastings Council, Greater Port Macquarie Tourism, Panthers Port Macquarie, Surfing Australia, Coastalwatch.com, Tooheys Extra Dry and Surfing NSW.
Aloha
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