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 AUSTRALIA |
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Source: www.surfingaustralia.com Davey Cathels and Kirby Wright finally win Rusty Gromfest Titles; Wrights post two first and a second! With solid stormy swells hitting the far north NSW coastline the Rusty Gromfest relocated to its traditional home break at Lennox Head beachbreaks which again provided excellent long challenging right hand 1.5m surf for a fitting final day. Six prestigious and sought after Rusty Gromfest titles were decided today and the winners join a very illustrious group of surfers who have won here over 12 years. Today’s winners were: For Cathels and Wright, their wins in the blue ribbon 16 and under divisions saw both surfers express emotions of joy and relief as both have been coming to the Rusty Gromfest for the past seven years, both finalists in previous years but neither having won a title and this was their last chance at it! “It’s been such a fantastic event and within the grommets this is the big event we dream of winning and I’m super pleased to finally win one. It finishes my grommet years off, especially at this event, with a fantastic memory – all the great waves over the years – I love it,” commented Cathels after his win. Wright was just as happy saying “I’m super stoked to win this event finally. It’s such a special event and both my older brother (Owen) and younger sister (Tyler) have won here and it feels really special to win today. This year has been fantastic with all the great surf and the surfing across all divisions has been amazing – It’s the best way to end my years at the Rusty!” Both Cathels and Wright controlled their finals by opening with strong scoring rides early, Cathels an 8 and Wright a 7, and then patiently waited for their required second strong scoring rides to secure comfortable wins. The similar status of the 16 winners was also apparent with the 14 and under winning pair in Matt Banting (Port MacQuarie) and Tyler Wright (Culburra) but in a different way as these two have both been past winners at the Rusty in the 12 year division. Solid surf that built to 2m really tested all the surfers today but once again all showed incredible ocean skills to handle the wild oceans. The 12 and under Boy and Girl divisions were amazing to see such tiny surfers in wild seas and particularly the boys division which saw all four competitors chasing the biggest waves that were around 100 meters offshore. The competitors were tough to spot as they regularly disappeared in the troughs of the swells and all surfers utilized the entire break across a 500 meter stretch. The other highlights of the day were two perfect ten point rides posted first by Tamaroa McComb (Tahiti) and later by Matt Bating in his 14 Boys winning final along with the incredible Wright families performance with Kirby and Tyler both winning and younger brother Michael placing second in the Boys 12 division. Young Freshwater/Sydney surfer Tom Myers was awarded the Events Emerging Surfer award. The Twelfth running of the Rusty Gromfest was regarded as the best ever across the quality field, sensational standard and amazing surf and all involved are looking forward to the 2008 event which will again showcase the best Grommets in the world in the best July surf location on NSW’s far north coast at Lennox Head! |
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