Coolangatta’s Mitch Crews is riding high after claiming the 17th annual Chiko Alley Classic in clean 1.5m waves at the event’s iconic home of Currumbin Alley on the weekend.
Crews beat a field of high performers including Luke Hynd (Burleigh Heads, QLD), Nick Vasicek (Coolangatta, QLD) and Dale Lovelock (Warana, QLD) to claim victory in the closely fought final.
‘I’m so happy. I came second in the MP Classic the other week and I was pretty bummed about that, so it’s so good to do one better with a win here,’ said an elated Crews after the final.
For the win, he takes home a $3,000 cheque and the ratings lead of the Queensland Championship Circuit (QCC), but is scheduled to head to Brazil for an Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Qualifying Series event.
‘I don’t think I am going to be able to compete in the last two events of the series, but the first two have been such a great warm-up for Brazil’, he said.
Chiko MP Classic Champion, Mitch Parkinson (Snapper Rocks, QLD), was eliminated in the early rounds of today’s competition, which, going into the third event on the Sunshine Coast, opens the series right up for competitors to take the QCC win.
Surfing Queensland takes the series north to the Sunshine Coast for the Chiko Sunshine Coast Pro, scheduled to start on 25 May.
The 2013 QCC series boasts a stellar AU$30,000 prize pool, with an extra AU$500 randomly awarded to four competitors who compete in all four events.
Based on competitors’ best three of four results, the series’ top two athletes will once again get the chance to compete against the world’s best surfers at the 2014 ASP World Championship Tour Quiksilver Pro Trials, Snapper Rocks.
To ensure the QCC’s top two under-18 athletes are performing at their optimum for the Quiksilver Pro Trials, Surfing Queensland in conjunction with Surfing Australia will provide two days of training at the world-class Hurley Surfing Australia High Performance Centre.
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