Boardriders surf for charity

By Mark Humphrey

Lynch Takes Out The Prized Event

The annual Surfcoast Longboarders charity 2-day event was held this weekend at Point Impossible on the Surf Coast Shire of Geelong with Adam Lynch taking out the coveted Open Final in clean off-shore conditions.

Boardriders surf for charity.

Around 90 competitors braved the perfect winter conditions in classes ranging from juniors to over 60’s. Receding hairlines and music from back in the day were the focus of the event which this year will benefit The Great Ocean Road Coastal Committee (GORCC).

The Great Ocean Road Coastal Committee is an organisation responsible for the up keep and maintenance of the foreshore along the famous Victoria Great Ocean Road which encompasses the event location (Point Impossible) and the famous surf precinct of Torquay and Bells Beach.

Past President and current committee member Bob Smith said “this year the funds raised from the event and associated auction night will go directly to GORCC which was nominated by the club as the beneficiary of this year’s event”.

“Each year the surf club nominates the beneficiary of the event with a local family in crisis the beneficiary every second year" said Smith.  "We are very fortunate to be in a position where we get a lot of support from the surfing community in our quest to help out others. In the past we have helped out the family of an 8 year old girl who had her leg amputated due to cancer and also the family of a 6 year old boy who had been struck down with leukemia”. Smith noted that although the GORCC was a government department the extra funds provided by the event will definitely assist the committee in their endeavors to maintain the famous stretch of foreshore along the Victorian coastline.

The event consisted of heats and a final for Traditional 60’s style surfing, junior boys and girls, open men and women and classes for over 40’s , 50’s and 60’s.

With longboards the order of the day the event saw competitors show their skills on the planks with hang 10 manoeuvres proving popular with the judges. A hang 10 manoeuvre is where the surfer will walk to the front of the surfboard and hang their toes over the front of the board whilst surfing the wave. Hang 5 manoeurvres were very popular throughout the event with the occasional head stand thrown in.

                           Luke Lalor "hangen 5"                                                               Dave Edwards headstand surfing

Surfers from all eras contested the event with booties and head caps the order of the day in the brisk winter conditions.

  Anthony Shields "hood and booties for the winter "                                Sam Cox with the hood to keep out the cold

The odd head of long flowing lochs could be seen amongst the predominately receding hair lines as the contestants chilled out to music from the era whilst standing around the braziers trying to keep warm as they consumed food from the bbq.

          Shane Firns "lochs blowin in the wind"                                                "Stretching time for the over 50's"

Following on from a day of heats and quarter final action, an auction was held at the Torquay Cafe with goods being donated from various surfing and non surfing businesses. Asked on the success of the auction past president Bob Smith said "the event was extremely well attended and finished up being a very successful evening for the club". Although fundraising monies are yet to be tallied, Smith expects the final donation handover to GORCC to be significantly higher than past fundraising efforts.

With the Saturday night festivities out of the way the showcase event of the weekend was the Surfcoast Longboarders Open final. With all finals being run and won during the morning session all eyes were on the top 4 finalists.

                                        Surfcoast Longboarders Open event winner Adam Lynch in the action.

Halfway through the 20 minute final Adam Lynch had a slight lead over Grant Price with Luke and Oscar Lalor locking horns for the final podium position. Lynch who had won his last 2 heats was surfing strong and looked to be the one to beat on paper. Oscar Lalor put in his best ride of the final to date to be tied for 3rd with less than 10 minutes to go. Next to get up was Lynch who put together a series of turns and some plank walking to post his highest score of the day to increase his lead over Price. Price was next up and had a consistent wave to slightly increase his overall tally. After a couple of low scoring waves Luke Lalor was busy in the water catching yet another wave.

                                                                          Luke and Oscar Lalor bottom turns.

This time his selection was good as the wave rolled out giving him the opportunity of posting his second highest score of the final and consequently giving him second place with only 4 minutes left on the clock. Price had one last chance of chasing down the two ahead but unfortunately the wave closed out which ended his assault on the title. Just for good measure Lynch caught the last wave of the final and managed to increase his two wave tally over Luke Lalor to take out the coveted final. Grant Price managed to pick up 3rd in a tight finish with Oscar Lalor.

                                                   Grant Price surfing in good Posso conditions.

In the other finals Liam Griggs Kennelly was victorious over Adam Lalor in the juniors but not without a fight. Lalor half the size of Kennelly had the highest scoring wave of the final but could not back the score up with another quality wave.

                                                             Boys finalists Liam Griggs Kennelly and Adam Laylor

Ben Considine won the Traditional 60's event with Scott, Will and Adam filling the minor placings.

The Over 40's final was won by Open finalist Grant Price with Sam Cox, Dave Gibson and Brett Lalor filling the minors.

                                                       Over 40's winner Grant Price with runner up Sam Cox

                                                                                 Dave Gibson and Brett Lalor

The Over 50's final was dominated by powerhouse surfer Greg Brown. Brown continually smashed the waves with his pink plank and never looked in danger of being beaten. John Lane finished a creditable 2nd followed by Brian Kuit and Dave Edwards.

                                   Over 50's winner Greg Brown with some aggressive moves.

                                                                    John Lane, Brian Kuit and Dave Edwards

The Over 60's final was hotly contested with Nigel taking out the win from Bob Smith, Al Spence and Sarge.

                                                                      Over 60's winner Nigel with Runner up Bob Smith

                                                                                       Al Spence and Sarge

The second last final to run on the day was the Open Women's. Although the competition for the minor placings was hot, nobody was going to catch Sam Suenderman. Suenderman dominated the event with her powerful turns and manoeuvers and also showed her versatility by walking the plank several times. Suenderman won the Women's final from Lucy Small who also surfed well. The final podium placing was hotly contested between Kate Lawler and Boo Lalor with Kate eventually taking out the 3rd position.

                                              Open Women's winner Sam Suenderman with runner-up Lucy Small

                                                                                    Kate Lawler and Boo Lalor

In what was a successful weekend for the club the day culminated with presentations to the victors.

                                                    Traditional 60's and Junior winners.

                                                       Over 40's and Over 50's winners

                                                           Over 60's and Womens winners

                                          Surfcoast Longboarders 2013 Open Mens winners

More Surfing Action From The Weekend

Chris Hanrahan

Dave

Grant m

jason

mick

Steve

Adams

Anthony

Cruz

Glenn

Sam

Greg

Larry

Glenn

john

Brian

bud white

Dave

MickShane

Adams

Brian

Chris

matt

Oscar

Anthony

Chris

Greg

Liam

Eddie

Freddie

grant

like

J

Arturo

Luke

matt

Sam

will

grant

Larry

Liam

Oscar

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