Merewether, Newcastle, New South Wales, AUSTRALIA (Friday, February 20, 2015)
AROUND 240 stoked young surfers from 29 New South Wales’ high schools swarmed on breaks at south Bar Beach and Merewether beach over the past two days for Surfest’s annual high schools challenge sponsored by Burton Automotive.
From Coffs Harbour to Illawarra – and with two invited teams of competitors from Vanuatu – young surfers, their teachers, parents and guardians travelled to Newcastle to participate in an event characterised by great surfing and new friendships.
With a rising, glassy swell featuring set waves that occasionally threatened 2m, the 64 boys teams consisting of three surfers per team surfed until Narrabeen Sports High School from Sydney emerged victorious. In the girls division, Northern Beaches Secondary College team number three blitzed the opposition. It was the fifth successive year that a girl’s team from the Northern Beaches Secondary College grabbed the silverware at this rapidly growing event.
Surfest chief Warren Smith said he was blown away by the increasing interest surrounding the event and was already talking with officials about how much bigger the event can grow.
“The number of competitors in this year’s Burton Automotive High Schools Challenge sees the event stretched to near capacity but it’s great to be able to accommodate such a massive interest.
“This year, the waves have been testing for some of the youngsters but the depth of surfing talent on display here over the past couple of days shows the sport has a great future,” Mr Smith said.
“For kids to be surfing just a couple of hundred metres away from some of the sport’s most elite athletes is a real buzz for not just the kids but for their parents and teachers too,” he said.
RESULTS OF THE 2015 BURTON AUTOMOTIVE HIGH SCHOOLS CHALLENGE
Boys division
1. Northern Beaches Secondary College Team 3 (32.6)
2. Swansea High School (13.6)
3. Great Lakes College (13.1)
4. Northern Beaches Secondary College Team 4 (12.6)
Girls division
1. Narrabeen Sports High School Team 1 (64.5)
2. St Pauls Catholic College Manly (45.2)
3. Mackillop College Team 1 (31.6)
4. Kotara High School (25)