The Human Cronulla Shark Island Challenge -- event concludes
Source: www.ibaworldtour.com
posted by Mark Fordham on 31st July 2005
Shark Island – Cronulla Beach, Sydney Australia (Friday, 29th of July)
The Human Cronulla Shark Island Challenge was officially concluded yesterday after only reaching the Quarter finals during its allocated waiting period. The $50,000 AUD International Bodyboarding Association (IBA) Men’s World Tour event (MWT), with only days remaining in its 26 day waiting period gave organisers and officials no choice but to finish the event due to the small and inconsistent conditions on offer. A vote was conducted between the remaining 16 competitors to either surf it out in 1 – 2ft Shark Island or to split the prize money evenly along with even IBA MWT points.
A unanimous decision was made by the remaining 16 riders to split both points and prize money with all contestants who advanced to the Quarter final receiving $2725 AUD each.
It is the first time in its nine year history that the Shark Island Challenge has had no individual winner.
Waves at Shark Island were 1ft + (0.25m) with excellent offshore conditions, organisers went in search for a half decent reef break in the Cronulla area and then waited to see if Cronulla Point would drag in some of the inconsistent swell before the high tide, though as the tide got fuller the swell continued to drop, leaving organisers and the competitors of the event to come to the decision that was made.
Event organiser and director Mark Fordham explained the rare situation, an occurrence that has only happened to the event back in 1999 and 2003 when the challenge had to be finished after just one round. “With the old format a winner would have been crowned with the rider taking the highest two waves during the round being deemed the winner, though with this new elimination format that was introduced to the event for the very first time this year we needed to complete the event to crown a Shark Island Challenge champion.”
“It is unfortunate we’ve had to conclude the event this way though in saying that I believe that it was the best decision made for all involved,” said Fordham. “For the past two weeks we have watched a high pressure system hover over the state of N.S.W deflecting any real chance of swell by driving the ever present winter low pressure systems more south.”
“On the long range forecast it basically shows no real swell that will be suitable for Shark Island in the next few days so it wasn’t worth continuing on. There was talk amongst the riders of extending the waiting period or moving it to another location - the bottom line is the event is about Shark Island, it’s a contest about competing in good solid waves, it’s about big barrels and gutsy high level moves. We could have gotten a result no matter what today, and if we’d gone into Quarter final round there was a very good chance it wouldn’t have finish due to the rapidly decreasing swell. We have worked very hard over the years to get this event to where it is today. To run the challenge in unfavorable conditions would have defeated the purpose of the event and would have set us back in what we have been trying to achieve, which is to set a high standard of bodyboarding at a world class location. We are extremely lucky to have Human giving us the support that we need – they fully encouraged the riders to vote on what they wanted do in this difficult situation which is fantastic.”
“It’s been a frustrating last few weeks watching the swell swing past the N.S.W coastline. There was only one other real day we could have held the event out at Shark Island and that was the day after the first round. There have been a few days earlier on in the waiting period where we could have held a few rounds out at Cronulla Point though we opted to wait for Shark Island. Who was to know that there would not have been any other solid winter swell to hit the east coast for 20 days plus? As fast as each swell was predicted it quickly faded away.” Fordham added, “It’s unfortunate, but you can’t control Mother Nature - it happens to the best events, it’s not the first time and it will definitely won’t be the last time either.”
Gary Cole from Human expressed, “its unfortunate that the event has to finish like this, we just want to emphasize that the event is about having the best riders in the world surfing one of the worlds most feared waves – basically its all about you guys, the riders. We have expressed to you our feeling regarding the event and presented them to you to vote on so we leave it in your hands. Just remember that next year marks the 10th year anniversary of the event so next year it will definitely be bigger and better.”
While the Hawaiian Jeff Hubbard acknowledged the difficult situation, he was pleased with the eventual outcome, “We could have voted to surf 1ft Shark Island though that’s not what the event is all about. We don’t want to show the world’s best bodyboarders trying to surf in such small waves like that, especially out at Shark Island. It was a hard call for sure, but definitely a good choice by all. It was really cool everyone could talk it out and see each other’s perspectives on what they wanted to do. I think they came to a good group decision.”
Australian Ben Player, who earned his top 20 placing when fellow Australian Beau Day announced that he would be stepping down from this year’s world tour was a little frustrated by the decision even though it was the rightly voted upon.
“It’s been a long month for all the competitors and the decision that was made was the right one for the circumstances,” said Player then added, “Though I’m not really happy with the way the contest ended, the build up for it was incredible, the first round was insane, I really wanted to win this event so yeah, there was $20,000 up for grabs, I suppose that is the way it goes, we will just have to wait till next year..”
Other awards that were present for the event were the Best Barrel and Best Move.
Best barrel was awarded to Local Andrew Lester for his solid 6-8ft tube ride in round one. Lester, who seemed to score one of the best heats during round one, always seems to get the ones that count. “That heat was amazing, the waves just kept on pumping. I got a few good ones during the heat; I guess that I was in the right spot at the right time. I am stoked on the award, thanks to the Surf Travel Co and Endless Bodyboarding for the gift.”
Best Move went again to the defending Champion, Brazilian Guilherme Tamega for the third year running. Best move was for Tamega’s first round heat where he managed to execute one the events most spectacular forward 360 spins of the lip on a solid 6ft wave. “Yeah three years in a row now, I am so stoked. This event means so much to me, just being here and being a part of it, it’s so good. Thanks for Human again for putting on a great event. I would also like to thanks to the Surf Travel Co and Endless Bodyboarding, I am sure Lester and I can use the free trip to the Mentawai Islands to score more sick barrels.”
Most of the world’s top rated bodyboarders that had set up base in Cronulla are now set on focusing on Europe’s biggest bodyboarding events - The Sintra Portugal Pro 2005: In conjunction with the Portuguese Federation of Surfing and City council of Sintra this spectacular event, Europe’s longest standing and most prestigious bodyboarding event will generate close to 220 male and female bodyboarding athletes from all around the world.. The Sintra Pro will be a MWT and WWT event, 24th to the 28th of August.
With 16 riders receiving equal points and equal Prizemoney this gives new opportunities for at least 10 riders to make the commitment to travel to Sintra for the event.
On behalf of all the riders, officials and sponsors thank you. Next year already looks bigger and better so stay tuned. 1649 views
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