Gold Coast, Queensland (Saturday, August 24th 2019) – Point Lookout Boardriders (North Stradbroke Island, QLD) have won the Queensland leg of the nudie Australian Boardriders Battle today, defeating Burleigh Boardriders, Noosa Boardriders and North Shore Boardriders (Maroochydore) respectively in the exciting final heat of the day. All four finalist teams will now head to the national final in 2020 (location TBC). Duranbah beach was the location of choice today, which provided fun 3-4ft (1.2m) waves for competitors.
Point Lookout Boardriders, whose team consisted of former World Surf League (WSL) championship tour surfers Bede Durbidge (North Stradbroke Island, QLD) and Ethan Ewing (North Stradbroke Island, QLD) dominated the final with a 6-wave heat total of 36.04 – defeating Burleigh Boardriders (27.83), Noosa Boardriders (26.60) and North Shore Boardriders (19.47). Ewing was nominated as the ‘power surfer’ of the team, in which one of the five team members surfs for a second time at the end of the heat for a last chance at putting up a high score. Ewing certainly didn’t disappoint, scoring a 9.37 (out of a possible 10.00) to edge Point Lookout toward victory. Ewing was also awarded the Oakley Prizm award for the most outstanding performer, after scoring a 9.93 in Point Lookout’s earlier semi final heat.
“We’d like to thank the officials, all the sponsors, and all of the teams for making it an awesome day,” said Ewing. “Thanks to the Point Lookout Boardriders, these guys are awesome to surf with and today was a lot of fun.”
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 & 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 manoeuvre 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 / Prize Money Breakdown
1st: Point Lookout Boardriders – $2000
2nd: Burleigh Boardriders – $1500
3rd: Noosa Boardriders – $1000
4th: North Shore Boardriders – $500
AirAsia Big Air Award: Zane Assink (Yaroomba Boardriders)
Oakley Prizm Award: Ethan Ewing (Point Lookout 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
ABB – National Final – location TBC, 2020