Crystal Cylinders
There was solid swell and challenging fast closing-out waves on offer for Connor O’Leary to win The Park Hotel BK Classic from Lennox Head’s Mikey McDonagh.
In the Open Women’s final the top seed Dimity Stoyle was too good for the impressive Kobie Enright. Special note to Byron Shire veteran pro Pauline Menczer, who was just pipped in the semis.
Local Byron boys Duke Wrencher and Tooma Cameron featured in the U/16 boys with a runner-up finish and a third place. Lennox Head’s Nyxie Ryan was at her best in the U/16 girls final with an excellent scoring ride separating her form the pack to win the division.
In the Skull Candy Willsy X Groms U/14 boys Dembe Ryan (Lennox Head) and Duke Wrencher (Byron Bay) took runner-up and third- place honours. Keenan Crisp, a rapidly improving grom from Lennox Head, won the U/12 boys with a great last wave to leapfrog from third to first.
Lennox Head’s Juniper Harper, Ocea Curtis and Marli Francis got runner-up to fourth place respectively in the U/12 girls in a close final.
Leihani Zoric just snuck away with the win in the U/10 girls from fast-rising Byron local Henley Smith.
The O/40s was stacked with ex-pro surfers and is always a highlight of the event; this year was no exception with Byron Bay’s Danny Wills stealing the win from fellow local Kieren Perrow and ex-WCT surfers Lee Winkler and Sasha Stoker.
In the O/50s Byron local Phil Poutney dominated the final and took the trophy from Byron Bay Boardriders’ president and contest machine Neil ‘Freddo’ Cameron. He was on fire to also dominate the O/60s with a masterful display.
The runner-up was Mick ‘Cosmic’ Birch, who was a founder of the event 44 years ago. He took it to Freddo with a solid performance and a touch of local knowledge to get over fellow locals James Dodd and Chris Burke.
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