Smorgasbord of events on cards

A festival atmosphere is set to descend upon Port Alfred from Friday as the ever-popular annual Royal St Andrew’s Hotel Amanzi Challenge festival gets under way across the town. The exciting sporting extravaganza will take place over 10 days of continuous action, beginning this Friday and coming to an end next week Sunday. Sports such as trail running, bodyboarding, handball, swimming, surfing, fencing, tumbling and gymnastics, as well as Thundercat Powerboat racing will all be battled out at various venues across Port Alfred. The trail run will kick things off on Friday morning while the first big multi-day event will see the South African Body Boarding Championships taking place on West Beach. The SA Champs will run from Friday and will conclude on Tuesday next week, and should see the country's best bodyboarders battling it out for glory. One of the festivals main events will be the 2019 City Surf Series second leg, the Port Alfred Classic, that will take centre-stage on East Beach from Monday to Wednesday. The event is a World Surfing League Qualifying Series 1000 event, sanctioned by Surfing SA, and draws a very competitive group of surfers from around the country, along with a few internationals as well. Last year it was Cape Town's Jordy Maree, who triumphed over Australian Jordan Lawler, and Argentina's Josefina Ane, who beat local East London star Zoe Steyn, in the men's and women's finals respectively. Other fan favourite events include the SA Handball Championships which will be played on East Beach this Saturday and Sunday and the Marina Mile Swim from the Halyards Hotel this Saturday. To finish off the water sports spectacular with a bang the Thundercat Racing will be held at the West and East Beaches and also the river from next week Thursday to Sunday. Well-known East London competitors, Chad Romans and Candice Hatting, who are current world champions in the Modified Class, changed classes recently and showed just how good they are by taking the lead in the Pro-Stock Class in the first round in PE, and they will be favourites in Port Alfred. A number of other exciting events will also take place over the 10 days of sporting action, with something on show for the whole family.

One of the festivals main events will be the City Surf’s Port Alfred Classic