Alyssa finishes dream week as a winner
TWEED Heads teenager Alyssa Lock has capped a breakthrough week with her maiden Australasian Junior Qualifying Series event win.
Lock tasted victory in the fourth round of the Subway Surf Series at Trigg Point near Perth in Western Australia after rushing from competing at the Roxy Pro on the Gold Coast.
Her scores of 8.25 and 7.25 for a combined 15.50 proved too much for Cabarita’s Sophia Fulton in improved conditions for the 30-minute final on Sunday.
“I love these events; it’s amazing hanging with the girls and travelling around the country competing,” Lock said.
The 16-year-old actually missed her original Perthbound flight due to her presence at Snapper Rocks, having qualified for the World Surf League season-opener by winning the Roxy Pro trials.
“I actually had a flight booked on Thursday,” she said.
“I didn’t end up making it so I had to book another one for Friday.”
Lock said the conditions she arrived to required a drastic change in approach.
“I went from surfing (as) easy pumping conditions that you could possibly get straight to really challenging conditions that were small,” she said.
“I really had to change my whole mindset to surfing a different beach really quickly.”
At the Roxy Pro, Lock had competed against fellow Australians Tyler Wright and Nikki Van Dijk in Round 1 on Wednesday before going headtowith reigning world champion Wright the next day in the elimination Round 2 heat.
Lock’s combined 12.33 was no match for Wright’s 17.50 but she described it an “exciting” opportunity that she had learned plenty from.