DIGGERS BEACH, COFFS HARBOUR (Sunday 13 October 2019): Le-Ba (Lennox / Ballina) Boardriders have claimed their second nudie Australian Boardriders Battle final in as many years, taking out the northern NSW qualifier in punchy four-foot beachbreaks today.
Le-Ba looked solid over the entirety of the event, however thanks to a collective effort from all team members – James Wood, Mikey McDonagh, Nyxie and Dembe Ryan and Marcus Aboody – the club hit it’s stride when it mattered in the final. The northern NSW club showed a healthy mix of time management skills and critical surfing with three of the six scoring waves of the final going into the excellent range (eight points and above).
Le-Ba President and club stalwart James Wood commended his club’s performance in the event.
“We’re so stoked to win this for the second year on the trot,” said Wood. “Every surfer in the team lifted their game and put on some really solid displays of surfing over the course of the event and I think they should all be really proud of how they surfed. With the exception of Marcus and I, we had a pretty young team and they all rose to the occasion. Bring on the National Final.”
Event runner-up Coffs Harbour showed moments of brilliance over the event with exciting performances from former World Championship Tour surfer and Coffs Harbour president Lee Winkler, Jayke Sharp and Ethan Stocks, but were unable to catch Le-Ba in the final.
Both teams will join third-place finisher Kingscliff Boardriders at the National Final next year.
Now in its 7th season, the nudie Australian Boardriders Battle is the country’s biggest grassroots boardriders event, involving more than 60 of Australia’s best boardrider clubs and $110,000 in prize money.
The series is officially sanctioned by the World Surf League (WSL), which allows Australian WSL World Tour surfers (Men and Women) the opportunity to represent their local boardriders club at respective State qualifying events and the National Final.
Adding to the high stakes at the State qualifying events will be two speciality awards. The Oakley Prizm Performer will be awarded to the standout surfer, while the AirAsia Big Air will be presented to the surfer who does the biggest and best aerial maneuver at each event.
The 2019/20 nudie Australian Boardriders Battle is proudly supported by nudie, Oakley, Woolworths, Hyundai, AirAsia, 2XP, WSL, MySurf.Tv, Fox Sports and Surfing Australia.
Results
1st: Le-Ba Boardriders
2nd: Coffs Harbour Boardriders
3rd: Kingscliff Boardriders
4th: Boomerang Beach Boardriders
AirAsia Big Air Award: Blake Neka (Cabarita Boardriders)
Oakley Prizm Award: Callum Robson (Half Tide Boardriders)
2019/2020 nudie Australian Boardriders Battle Series Calendar
ABB – EVENT 1 – Gold Coast, QLD – Aug 24, 2019
ABB – EVENT 2 – Trigg, WA – Sept 21, 2019
ABB – EVENT 3 – NSW Nth – Coffs Harbour, NSW – Oct 13, 2019
ABB – EVENT 4 – NSW Sth – Kiama, NSW – Oct 26, 2019
ABB – EVENT 5 – NSW Central – North Narrabeen, NSW – Nov 2, 2019
ABB – EVENT 6 – Phillip Island, VIC – Nov 9, 2019
ABB – EVENT 7 – Fleurieu Peninsula, SA – Nov 23, 2019
ABB – EVENT 8 – Clifton Beach TAS – Dec 14, 2019
National Final – Newcastle NSW – Feb 15-16, 2020