Showtime for Metro’s wavebusters
Buffalo City stars turn on the charm to power their way to the top in Junior Champs at J-Bay
BUFFALO City Surfriders excelled at the 2017 Billabong SA Junior Champs presented by BOS which was battled out in excellent conditions at Lower Point in Jeffrey’s Bay over the past weekend.
Two budding local talents, Zoe Steyn and Mitch du Preez were crowned SA champions after triumphing in their age division, while a further three locals claimed medals after putting in valiant efforts.
Overall the Buffalo City team finished fourth on the standings just behind hosts Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB) in third, while Cape Town Surfriders claimed the coveted Freedom Cup ahead of runners-up eThekweni.
“It was a big improvement from last year, we also finished fourth on that occasion but our points tally was a lot bigger this time round,” said Buffalo City Surfriders coach Andre Malherbe.
“Last year we had four or five finalists and this year we had seven and even the individual placings of our surfers who didn’t make the final was improved which is great to see.”
In the U14 girls final Steyn dominated proceedings from the start and took a comfortable win with a heat score of 16.33, beating out Cape Town’s Katie Winter into second place, while fellow Buffalo City surfer Lhea Johnston took third place.
In the U14 boys final it was a close affair between two Buffalo City Surfriders and ended with Du Preez claiming his first SA title with a total of 16.44, just edging teammate Daniel Emslie into second place.
“It was amazing because last year they (Steyn and Emslie) were both favourites in the U13 division finals and they didn’t get the win and with the age groups going up in two-year increments it was expected to be a bit tougher for them this year,” said Malherbe.
“But they changed the age groups around this year which meant they were in the U14 division and that gave them another chance and they took it superbly.”
The other local surfers to manage top three finishers were Tayla de Koning and Ethan Currin in the U16 girls and U12 boys divisions respectively.
“They all performed at a level slightly than I have seen them before and it was wonderful that they were able to make the podium,” admitted Malherbe. “They timed their performances incredibly well and they can possibly go on to winning the title in the next few years.”
Other Eastern Cape surfers to excel in the champs included multiple SA champ Kirsty McGillivray (NMB) winning the U18 girls division, Joshe Faulkner (NMB) second U18 boys, Kai Woolf (NMB) first U16 girls and Zia Hendricks (NMB) third U12 girls.
The Buffalo City Surfriders will now look to build on this impressive showing and look to go one better than their neighbours when next year’s competition comes around.
“It is so competitive at the moment and the good thing for Buffalo City surfing is that the young divisions are so strong at the moment, it is a wave of top talent coming through and in the coming years I have no doubt we will be winning the entire team competition,” said Malherbe.