ALMOST 80 aspiring young male and female surfers will arrive in Newcastle on Friday night and very early Saturday morning for the Sanbah Cadet Cup set down for South Bar Beach this weekend as part of the 2020 Surfest Newcastle Australia.
Fifty-five competitors are travelling to Newcastle from outside of Hunter local government areas. Those competitors and their families and supporters are travelling to Newcastle from as far north as Burleigh Heads on Queensland’s Gold Coast and from as far south as Kianga on the New South Wales south coast.
They will be competing for cash and prizes worth more than $5000.
The top seed in both the 16-and-under boys and the 14-and-under boys is Hugh Vaughan from the Central Coast. Hugh won the top seed spot into those divisions at the Port Stephens Wildcard Trials held at Birubi Beach late last month. Those trials proved a great day for the Vaughan trio of brothers, when Joe Vaughan edged out sibling Curtis in the final of the open men’s division to win the wildcard – and go directly into the round of 96 – into the QS 5000 Surfest Newcastle Pro presented by Burton Toyota.
Each division at the Sanbah Cup – including 16-and-under boys, 14-and-under boys and 16-and-under girls – will surf in the unique format competition which ensures opportunities for all competitors on both Saturday and Sunday. Each division offers $250 for the winner, $200 for second, $150 for third and $100 for fourth place.
The Sanbah Cadet Cup also offers the youngsters a prize pool of $3000 worth of surf equipment from surf equipment manufacturer Ocean & Earth.
The inaugural Westfield Kotara Encouragement Award will be presented to the local surfer– defined as a resident of the Lake Macquarie, Newcastle or Port Stephens local government areas – who achieves the best result in their respective divisions. The Westfield Kotara Encouragement Award will see those winners’ entry fees refunded into the following events in 2020:
– Billabong Oz Grom Comp 13 – 17 April 2020 at Coffs Harbour
– NSW Junior Regional Title 16 & 17 May 2020 at South Bar Beach
– Rip Curl Gromsearch regional qualifier 2020 at Newcastle
– Woolworths Junior Surf Titles in July 2020 at Coffs Harbour
– Woolworths Surfer Grom Comp in August 2020 at Cronulla
To receive the entry fee refund, surfers will provide Westfield Kotara and Surfest with:
• a receipt of payment for their entry fee
• a short-written review (200 words) on each contest and their contest result. That information must be submitted within three days following the completion of the contest
• a photo of the contest and a selfie at the contest
All surfers at the Sanbah Cadet Cup will have the opportunity to surf twice across the weekend, with action slated to get under way at 7.30am Saturday morning at South Bar beach.
