Mandurah’s beaches will play host to Western Australia’s most exciting bodyboarders this weekend, as they tackle large swells and strong winds for the final event of the SunSmart WA Bodyboard Titles.
After an action-packed series opener in Margaret River back in March, WA’s best riders have been fine tuning their skills in an amazing run of autumn conditions with hopes of qualifying for the Australian Bodyboard Titles to be held in Tweed Heads, NSW in August.
Mandurah has been a breeding ground of bodyboard talent over the years with the likes of Davis Blackwell (Dawesville), George Humphreys (Falcon), Matt Hanks (Falcon) and Henry Gibson (Falcon) leading the charge.
The Peel region provides a range of consistent and high performance bodyboard waves and it is this variety of locations that event officials will be looking to explore over the weekend with competitors set to face the first taste of wild winter weather.
“The forecast is certainly going to keep things interesting for us this weekend as the first real cold front of autumn is expected to hit the WA coastline in the coming days,” Surfing WA events manager Justin Majeks said in the lead up to the event.
“Mandurah has a few little nooks and crannies that we’ll be looking to tuck into and provide some protection for our competitors.”
Some of the talent set to highlight this weekends action include current under 16 Australian Champion Joel Hughan (Trigg Beach) and defending under 21 pro junior state champion Lachlan Hearne (Geraldton), as well as a host of emerging bodyboarders from the South West.
Large swells and strong winds are forecast this weekend with preliminary rounds of competition set to kick off by 8am Saturday morning, with finals set to run as early as early as Saturday afternoon.
The event offers competitors a chance to compete in some of the best bodyboard waves the state has to offer, while mixing it up with some of the best up and coming riders in Australia.
Surfing WA will be streaming live heat scores and results.
To follow all the action visit surfingwalive.asn.au