2019 SAE Group Australian Surf Championships: shortboard titles
The opening day of the 2019 SAE Group Australian Surf Championships kicked off on Saturday August 10th with the Open Shortboard divisions going toe-to-toe in wedgey one-foot surf at Dreamtime Beach.A stacked field of great athletes had gathered to fight it out for bragging rights from August 10th – 14th as the shortboarders began a two-week surfing extravaganza on the Tweed.
Tweed Heads local, perennial World Surf League Qualifying Series standout and 2016 Open Australian Champion Alyssa Lock expressed her excitement at seeing the prestigious titles unfold on her doorstep.
“It’s not too often that you get an event in your own backyard, so I’m really excited to get this competition underway,” said Lock. “I think all the competitors here will be extremely hungry to try and get a win, so hopefully I can use the local knowledge to my advantage.”
Surfing Australia Contest Director Glen Elliot indicated that contest organisers would be expecting a weekend of challenging waves, but was eager to see the roll-out of the new competitive format.
“We’re really excited to unveil the seeded format across all disciplines for all National Titles,” said Elliot. “We’re expecting some challenging conditions for the opening weekend, but we should start to see an increase in swell early next week for all the age divisions.”
The 2019 SAE Group Australian Surf Championships were officially opened with shortboard competitors gathering at the Surfing Australia High Performance Centre to kick off the entire event.
On the opening day of surfing local surfer Sheldon Simkus (Tweed Heads, NSW) showed his knowledge of north coast beach break conditions performing a mix of innovative aerial manoeuvres and powerful snaps. As a result, Simkus was awarded with a solid 15.25 two-wave heat total to leave his nearest rival chasing a near-perfect 9.66 wave score to take away his lead.
Micah Margieson (Cabarita, NSW) bagged another impressive for the local surfing contingent smashing apart his second-round heat. Margieson posted an impressive 15.50 two-wave heat total for a variety of powerful carves and snaps. The round two performance earned Margieson the Nixon Base Tide Pro-formance award for the day and made it know he’d be a threat going into the second day of competition.
Dimity Stoyle (Sunshine Coast, Qld) and Sophie McCulloch (Sunshine Coast, Qld) both made it clear they were eager to take an Australian Title back to the Sunshine Coast with both ladies nailing impressive first-round victories. Both Stoyle and McCulloch performed a handful of critical turns in their respective heats to claim the wins and earn their spots straight into the third round.
Nic Squires and India Robinson claim Open Shortboard Titles at the 2019 SAE Group Australian Surf Championships
FINGAL BEACH, TWEED
Sunday, 11 August 2019
Nic Squires (Corrimal, NSW) and India Robinson (Jan Juc, Vic) have claimed Australian Titles taking out the respective Open Men’s and Open Women’s divisions at the Australian Shortboard Titles.
After recently competing in the US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, Nic Squires (Corrimal, NSW) carried his same tenacity when he attacked the Open Men’s final. Squires put on a clinic over the duration of the heat, finding punchy lefthanders that allowed for multiple backside snaps. Consequently, the 36-year-old finished the heat with two excellent scores, an 8.00 and 8.25 to amass a solid 16.25 two-wave heat total. Tweed resident and goofy-footer Nathan Cook (Kingscliff, NSW) put up a valiant fight but was unable to find the near-perfect 9.06 wave score needed to take away Squires’ lead. Squires was awarded with $1500.00 winner-takes-all purse as a result.
“This feels so good to win this event,” said Squires. “I won this event back in 2014 and when I saw the field that was in this, I knew it was going to be a really tough event. Winning an Australian Title is something that always looks awesome to have and to have my name there alongside a lot of the professionals who have won previously feels awesome. Hopefully, I can carry this confidence into the next few Qualifying Series events that I have coming up.”
Having honed her forehand on the long right-handers of the Victorian Surf Coast, India Robinson (Jan Juc, Vic) felt right at home in the punchy right-handers on offer throughout the Open Women’s final. Robinson shone in the stacked final, performing a combination of mammoth carves and snaps in the heat to muster up a solid 15.70 two-wave heat total and leave her closest rival and fellow event standout Dimity Stoyle (Sunshine Coast, Qld) requiring an excellent 8.51 wave score to take away the top spot. As a result, Robinson claimed the $1500.00 winner-takes-all purse for the victory.
“This is such a good feeling,” said Robinson “I won an Australian Junior Title a few years back, but to come up here and surf pumping waves with a crew of awesome surfers just makes it feel so much sweeter. I was really fortunate to get offered the wildcard for this event and when I found out that it was on the Tweed, I knew I wanted to make the most of it.”
Women’s runner-up Dimity Stoyle was awarded with the Nixon Base Tide Pro-formance Award for the day due to her overall performance across the event.
All heat draws and ongoing live results can be found at australiansurfchampionships.com under the results section of each respective division or through Live Heats at liveheats.com/surfingaustralia
For more information, daily imagery, highlights, news and information check out australiansurfchampionships.com
SAE Group Australian Surf Championships - Tweed Coast, NSW, August 9-26, 2019
Australian Shortboard Titles – August 10-14
North Star Australian Bodyboard Titles – August 15-17
Nudie Australian Adaptive Surfing Titles – August 18
Australian Longboard Titles – August 19-26
Australian Logger Titles – August 19-26
The 2019 SAE Group Australian Surf Championships is proudly supported by the NSW Government through its tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW. The event is also proudly supported by Tweed Shire Council, SAE Group, North Star Holiday Resort, the Australian Institute of Sport, Gold Coast Airport, Hydralyte Sports, Hyundai, 2XP, Solo Resource Recovery, Kingscliff and District Chamber of Commerce, mySURF.tv, Surfing Australia and Surfing NSW.
Results:
Open Men
1 – Nic Squires (Corrimal, NSW)
2 – Nathan Cook (Kingscliff, NSW)
3 – Cooper Davies (Sunshine Coast, Qld)
4 – Callum Robson (Evans Head, NSW)
Open Women
1 – India Robinson (Jan Juc, Vic)
2 – Dimity Stoyle (Sunshine Coast, Qld)
3 – Alysse Cooper (Manly, NSW)
4 – Tru Starling (Narrabeen, NSW)
Duranbah Beach played host to finals for the age division shortboard competitors today, Wednesday August 14th with a host of epic performances from former big names of Australian and world surfing.
Former ex Qualifying series shredder and Queenslander Shaun Gossmann dominated the Over 35’s Men’s Final from start to finish, posting an 18 point heat total to leave his fellow competitors in a combination situation for most of the final.
“It’s a proud moment for me. I’ve been here in Australia seventeen years now and I am so proud to be able to raise the Aussie flag and win a title,” said Gossmann.
Shane Wehner won the Nixon Base Tide Pro-formance Award and an Australian Title after a dominant performance in the Over 40’s Men’s final. The former world tour competitor built momentum through the event and hit his straps in the big dance, nailing an 18.30 point total with Jake Spooner next best with a 13.90 points.
“I really appreciate this moment, it’s been about fifteen years since I have won any kind of surfing event so it’s really nice. After sitting out at middle rock at Hasting’s in my first round heat and not registering a score to now winning the thing, it’s awesome,” said Wehner.
Former Barrenjoey High School student and North Avalon and Whale Beach surfer Col Bernasconi secured the Over 45's winner's spot while Newport's Mark Tickle took out the over 50's National Championships.
Six other Australian Champions were crowned on a massive day of competition, none more impressive than new Over 35’s Women’s champion Melissa Bartz (Pacific Palms) who wowed the crowd with several nine-point rides to rack up a huge 18.10 point heat total.
Another standout performance came in the second Over 50’s Women’s final when Budgewois' Sandra English put on a rail clinic to take down Susan Levett and legendary former Open Women’s champion Leath Goebel in the tricky Duranbah Conditions after lunch.
For more information, daily imagery, highlights, news and information check out australiansurfchampionships.com
Over 50's Women's Final. Photo: Surfing Australia / Nikon Australia / Blainey Woodham
2019 Shortboard Age Division Champions:
Over 35’s Men – Shaun Gossmann (QLD)
Over 40’s Men - Shane Wehner (NSW)
Over 45’s Men – Col Bernasconi (NSW)
Over 50’s Men – Mark Tickle (NSW)
Over 55’s Men - Ged Cook (NSW)
Over 60’s Men – Neil Cameron (NSW)
Over 35’s Women – Mellisa Bartz (NSW)
Over 50’s Women - Sandra English (NSW)
