Crystal Cylinders
The Australian Boardriders Battle Series National Final saw Byron Bay and Lennox-Ballina compete with another 22 clubs from all around the country for the honour of being declared Australia’s top surf team.
The local clubs qualified through the state finals to compete for $85,500 in prize money available at the event held in Newcastle.
While competitive, neither club made it to through to the finals.
Le-Ba Boardriders got off to a great start with a second in the men’s Skins format for Stu Kennedy and a win for Steph Single in the women’s round, followed by a fourth for Kennedy in Skins round two.
Byron Bay Boardriders had a third in Skins round one thanks to Soli Bailey, and a second in round two.
Both local clubs progressed through their first round heats in the tag team section.
Le-Ba then sneaked through their quarter final clash with a last minute wave from Adam Melling to secure a semifinal berth.
Byron Bay had a slow start in the quarter final but Soli Bailey got things back on track and then Dan Wills, who was described as the ‘Godfather’ of Byron Bay surfing, did well. But the team ran out of time to collect the points after Joel Parkinson (Snapper Rocks) had a great wave to surpass Byron Bay Boardriders’ efforts and ended their campaign.
The former world champion Parkinson also pulled off a last minute wave to stymie Le-Ba, who fell short by the smallest amount to get through into the final.
Lennox-Ballina finished in seventh place and Avoca Beach Boardriders won the title with Snapper Rocks runners up. Byron Bay Boardriders finished in 13th place.
Surfer of the year
Byron Bay’s Mark ‘Mono’ Stewart was a finalist in the Surfing Australia Awards in the ‘Male Surfer of the year’ category along with multiple World Champion Mick Fanning.
Byron Shire resident Matt Wilkinson was the winner of the title.
Wilkinson was a worthy recipient as Australia’s highest ranked surfer for 2016 at number five in the world.
As the award has traditionally been given to the highest ranked professional surfer the inclusion of Stewart as a finalist by the organisers is to be praised.
It acknowledges his high achievement as a competitive surfer with two World Adaptive Surfing Titles but it also demonstrates the diversity within surfing and most importantly the positive changes towards an increasingly inclusive sporting culture.
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