Surf Lights up for the Pro Junior and Rad Season Local Trails
North Steyne’s George Pittar and Queenscliff’s Alysse Cooper won their respective divisions in The Rad Season Pro Junior Local Boardrider Club Trials to earn spots in the VISSLA Sydney Surf Pro
Alister Reginato (Australia) and Keala Tomoda-Bannert (Hawaii) were the eventual winners of the Key Sun Zinke Sydney Pro Junior
The Lifeline High School Challenge was also held with Narrabeen Sports High winning both the boy’s and girl’s divisions
In what was a massive few days for the VISSLA Sydney Surf Pro in Manly beach, both the Rad Season Boardrider Club Trials were wrapped up and two new champions have been crowned at the Key Sun Zinke Sydney Pro Junior. Rad Season founder Oli Russell-Cowan had this to say:
“The waves were pumping at Manly and the banks lined up nicely. It started with quite a bit of rain during the day, however, the weather ultimately backed off and the surf turned on for an epic display of final’s surfing in the afternoon. Overall it was a sick day.”
Pro Junior Rookie Snaps and Wraps His Way to Victory
Alister Reginato from the Sunshine Coast in Queensland was the eventual winner of the men’s division. Surfing with maturity beyond his years in waves that proved the perfect platform for high-performance manoeuvres in front of a packed-out beach.
Alister’s lunge for the podium began when he pocketed two excellent scores and posted a huge 17.35 heat total, which was enough to pull ahead of Dakoda Walters from Angourie (with a decent 15.60 two-wave heat total), Lennox Chell from Avoca and Kyllian Guerin from France who came 3rd and 4th respectively.
Alister, who only began competing on the Pro Junior circuit two years ago (finishing runner up in his maiden appearance no less) is now firmly placed within the top three of the Australia/Oceania WSL Men’s Junior Tour Rankings.
Flawless Surfing Earns Hawaiian First Place
For the women’s it was international competitor Keala Tomoda-Bannert from Hawaii who took out the women’s division of the Key Sun Zinke Sydney Pro Junior.
Keala, who regularly posted scores in the excellent range throughout the entire event and earned a reputation for being an incredibly consistent surfer, finished out her finals heat with a 15.40 two-wave total.
Her win, however, was anything but guaranteed and she had to overcome a dogged performance from natural-footer and Northern Beaches local, Cedar Leigh-Jones, who held pole position right up until the dying minutes of the heat.
Cedar Leigh-Jones had to eventually settle for a second placing but was stoic in defeat, commenting that she was proud to be in a final with girls of that calibre and satisfied with her surfing.
Rad Season Boardrider Club Trials Reveal Future Surf Stars
facebooktwitterpinterestWinner of the Rad Season Pro Junior Local Boardrider Club Trials men’s division, George Pittar. Photo: Ethan Smith/Surfing NSW
In regards to the Rad Season Boardrider Club Trials, Queenscliff Boardriders Club (QBC) and North Steyne Boardriders (North Steyne) can both claim to have winners in their ranks after Alysse Cooper (QBC) dominated the competition for the women, while George Pittar (North Steyne) parried with Sam Page (QBC), Blake Leyett (North Steyne) and Gerard McCallum (QBC) before putting them to the sword and hitting the sand with a wildcard for the men’s division.
The Lifeline High School Challenge was also held, with Narrabeen Sports High pulling off a clean sweep of victories in both the Boys and Girls divisions in the 45-minute tag-team heats to claim the wins convincingly.
facebooktwitterpinterestNarrabeen Sports High girl’s team win the Lifeline High School Challenge. Photo: Ethan Smith/Surfing NSW
Women
1 – Keala Tomoda-Bannert (Hawaii)
2 – Cedar Leigh-Jones (Avalon, NSW)
3 – Molly Picklum (Shelly Beach, NSW)
4 – Gabriela Bryan (Hawaii)
Rad Season local Boardrider Club Trials
Village Chiropractic local Men’s Boardrider Club Trials
1 – George Pittar (North Steyne)
2 – Sam Page (Queenscliff)
3 – Blake Levett (North Steyne)
4 – Gerard McCallum (Queenscliff)
Belgrave Cartel local Women’s Boardrider Club Trials
1 – Alysse Cooper (Queenscliff)
2 – Fran May (Queenscliff)
3 – Hunter Kelleher (North Steyne)
4 – Bella Wilton (North Steyne)
Lifeline High School Challenge
Men
1 – Narrabeen Sports High
2 – Balgowlah
3 – Freshwater
4 – Pittwater House
Women
1 – Narrabeen Sports High
2 – Freshwater
3 – Queenwood
4 – Pymble
The Vissla Sydney Surf Pro is proudly supported by the NSW Government via its tourism and major events agency Destination NSW. The event is also proudly supported by Vissla, Sisstrevolution, Northern Beaches Council, Hotel Steyne, WSL, KeySun Zinke and Surfing NSW.
Lachlan is a freelance copywriter from Australia who loves travelling the world writing and surfing. Based in Portugal, he spends most of his time scouring the coast looking for a decent wave, that is unless he’s in the home office creating content for major companies such as Wrangler, DAVIDOFF or Heineken. Lac also manages his own blog, The Barefoot Vagabond, which provides freelancers who share his passion for surfing with humorous and sometimes useful advice.