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KZN Tops At 2009 SA Surfing Championships

<!– @page { size: 21cm 29.7cm; margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } –>Kwa-Zulu Natal came out tops at the recent annual South Coast Tourism South African Surfing Championships with two of their own surfers emerging as champions.

Having a home surf advantage certainly seemed to pay off, because the host province even surfed off with the President’s Cup.

Southern KZN team members Gavin Roberts and Heather Clark won the Men’s and Women’s titles respectively.

According to reports, this past Sunday’s weather in St Mikes was fine and conditions were near perfect with 3 – 6 foot surf.

Roberts beat 2007 SA Champion Devyn Mattheys of Border, pushing him into second place with Dan Redman of KZN coming in third. Eastern Province’s (EP) Ryan Payne came fourth and was crowned Surfer of the Contest for 2009.

Clark successfully defended the title she won at Victoria Bay last year. Nikita Robb of Border was second, Tammy Lee Smith of KZN came third and Faye Zoetmulder of EP was fourth.

The under 20 set also saw KZN surfers rising to the top. Shawn Dennis took the title with fellow KZN boy Kyle Lane in second. Bertie Stuurman of EP came third. Chris Leppan, also from KZN, came fourth.

Despite stitches to her face from an injury sustained when her board hit her in the face during the semi-final, Tarryn Chudleigh of Western Province (WP) still managed to take the Under 20 Girls title.

Sarah Baum of KZN was second, Alice McGregor of Border came third and Lauren Colberg of Boland was fourth.

KZN’s dominance in all four divisions secured them the Presidents Cup which they last won in 2005. Southern KZN came second, Border was third, Eastern Province – who was last year’s champion – came fourth, Western Province was fifth and Boland came sixth. The 2009 South African Surfing Championships were presented by Surfing South Africa, hosted by Southern KZN Surfing Association and sponsored by South Coast Tourism.

2009 Surfing South Africa Scholarships

While we’re on the subject of 2009 scholarships…

Ten surfers were recently awarded annual surfing scholarships courtesy of a generous grant of R198 000 made to Surfing South Africa (SSA) by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund.

The recipients are Josh Salie of Muizenberg, Grant Arendse of Strandfontein, Qhamani Bam of Port Elizabeth, Bertie Stuurman of Pellsrus (near Jeffrey’s Bay), Monique Terblanche of Macassar, Amy Bosworth of Kommetjie, Mbongeni Hlengwa and Thalent Mkhize of Umzumbe and Zama Ndamase and Zitobile Msesiwe of Port St Johns.

All the successful candidates had to comply with strict criteria in order to qualify for the SSA Surfing Scholarship awards. These included the writing of a 500 word motivational essay and the preparation of a budget on how and where they would utilise the funds.

Apart from giving them access to specialised coaching and training, the scholarship funds will also give the group the opportunity to travel to and compete in events held around South Africa. In addition all scholarship recipients will be expected to use at least 50% of the allocated funds to pay for their school, college or university fees and expenses.

As an added bonus, all the recipients will be able to tear up the waves with brand new surfboards.

Congratulations to all and thanks to SSA for recognising all the young talent we have in South Africa!