Challenge aims to expand in 2024
Organisers plan to invite international competitors to take on local stars
Royal St Andrews Hotel Amanzi Challenge organisers are planning a bigger and better event next year with international competition poised to come on board after a successful seventh staging of the event at West Beach, East Beach and on the Kowie last weekend.
Next year’s Amanzi Challenge has been pencilled in for September 23-30, which ties in with the school holidays.
Spectators attended the events in bigger numbers on Sunday’s final day after a slow start on Saturday. The big drawcard was the inflatable boat racers, who blazed a trail from way up the Kowie to the stretch alongside the Marina up to the West Beach pier.
The roar of the engines as they hit the water at high speed provided an adrenaline rush that had spectators gasping at times. The inflatable races were moved to the Kowie River due to the rough conditions out at sea. “The weekend was amazing. “The surfing and bodyboarding events were challenging. The conditions weren’t the greatest with the wind a factor, but they all pulled through,” said Royal St Andrews Hotel owner and main sponsor, Justin Bekker.
“We have a great platform to go bigger and better in 2024.
“We are looking to organise more sporting activities so that it gives the local community an opportunity to participate,” Bekker said.
A stone’s throw from the pier, surfers and bodyboarders hit the waves for two days of competitive action sanctioned by Surfing SA.
KwaZulu-Natal surfer Ntando Msibi sprang a surprise on Sunday at East Beach by ousting Christian Venter, (second) Thomas Lindhorst (third) and Joshe Faulkner (fourth) in the finals to win the men’s open title.
Msibi’s routine included a series of back-hand manoeuvres with a decent back-up wave and was carried shoulder high by his colleagues as he emerged from the ocean.
“I was just in my rhythm man. I was just having fun,” he said while trying to
catch his breath. “The waves here hold more and run longer than on the beach in KZN,” the 26-year old surfer said.
In the open ladies’ competition, Anastasia Venter took home first prize ahead of Adriel Wolmarans and Danielle Powis.
Port Alfred’s Lily Heny who is off to Brazil next week to compete in the Junior World Cup after receiving her SA colours, swept the boards in the U16 and U18 girls’ finals winning both events. In the U16 final on Sunday at East Beach, Heny who is known for her courageous go-for- broke style, made short work of rivals Jasmine Venter, Mikayla Jefferis and Bekie Downey
before going on to do the same in the U18 competition.
“It’s pretty cool it’s actually my first win of the year, so I’m stoked. This year was a really tough year but it turned out well in the end with my selection for Junior Worlds. This is a good competition for me to participate in because it keeps me in that competitive mindset,” said Heny.
Joshua Jefferis made it a clean sweep in the U16 and U18 Boys competition finals, dominating both divisions to secure the titles. Local surfers Owen Heny came in second and Carl Wiersma fourth in the respective divisions in the final.
In an unusual and exciting development, bodyboarders and surfers competed together in the water as part of a combined programme.
In the pro division bodyboarding final at East Beach, Hugo Naude saw off Darren Halse and Clinton Millard in a tight duel where they showed off their full range of skills, among them air roll spins and aerial 360° turns in strong westerlies gusting up to 65km/h.
The boys and juniors bodyboard divisions provided exciting action in the water over two days with the youngsters showing supreme skills in the difficult sea conditions.
In the junior division final, Naude saw off Ethan Sharples with ease to win the title by a 5.27 margin.
In the boys’ division final, Taylor Halse just edged out Noah Harris to secure the victory.
Well-known Port Alfred bodyboarder and former SA men’s Champion, Millard, was excited about the combined surfing and bodyboarding initiative.
“There’s always a bit of rivalry between bodyboarders and surfers but we saw each of the divisions trying to push each other to try and do better in the water,” he said.
“The Amanzi Challenge is growing and I can see it continuing to grow.
“Different sports are coming on board like the swimming and tennis [clinics] I can only see it getting bigger,” Millard said.
Special mention must be made of the panel of judges led by contest director, Luqmaan Bruce, who maintained high standards despite the blustery conditions.
The proceedings moved on to the Royal St Andrews Hotel for the prizegiving ceremony to end off a windy but successful hosting of Amanzi Challenge 2023.