JEROME Forrest, the current Western Australian state surfing champion, will be one of the favourites to take out the Makin Homes Peel Pro in Mandurah this month.
The event, presented by Star Surf & Skate, is the first major open surfing contest to be held in the Peel region for more than 15 years and held at a range of beaches including Gearies, Avalon, Egg Farms and Melros. Fresh from a competition in Japan, Forrest, a former Mandurah local said he was looking forward to returning to his old stomping grounds.
“I never really get back to Mandurah often any more being based in Margaret River,” he said.
“The only time I get to come there is when I am flying out to an event to see the parents before I bail.”
Forrest said despite the time away from the Mandurah area he was familiar with the surfing spots.
“I lived right down the road from Avalon so I have had some pretty special times spent out there with my brother and close friends,” he said.
“I also love Melros, when that wave gets good it can compare a lot to some of the barrelling waves I get to surf down here [Margaret River].”
The 25-year-old said it was great Mandurah was able to host a surfing competition.
“We need more,” he said. “I mean apart from the Margaret River Pro there’s only a couple of events that put a good prize pool together to attract the best surfers in the state,” he said.
The Makin Homes Peel Pro will offer $5000 in cash prizes.
Forrest said his goal was to win but expected a challenge.
“There’s a handful of guys that could do really well and even win the contest from Mandurah,” he said.
The Makin Homes Peel Pro will run from July 25-26 this year with heats drawn in a non-traditional way of a pulling names out of a hat rather than the heats decided on the states point rating system.
Surfers are invited to sign up for the competition, divisions are capped and once the age group is full then there will be no more entries.
If anyone is interested in entering the competition go to surfingaustrali
a.com/wa/event.php?id=1451 for more information, or check out the Makin Homes Peel Pro Facebook page.
