Ocean & Earth Teenage Rampage up, running at DBah

Macca’s Ocean & Earth Teenage Rampage

Surfing Queensland
Duranbah, Gold Coast Qld
24 - 26 September 2008

Ocean & Earth Teenage Rampage up and running in style

Fun was the name of day one at the Ocean & Earth Teenage Rampage held at Duranbah today, as the traditional surfing competition was left behind. With grommets from as far south as northern NSW (north of Ballina River) and along the entire Queensland coastline ripping it up in four divisions, the action was electric.

Eli Steele (Moffat Beach, QLD) was a standout in the under 13 boys division. Revelling in the 1m metre storm conditions, Steele surfed with speed and precision on his backhand. “It’s really fun out there,” Steele commented. Accumulating the highest single wave score of the day with an 8.83 (out of a possible 10), Steele surfed with purpose.

“I like surfing on my backhand and I think the smaller conditions suit my surfing as well.” The Ocean & Earth Teenage Rampage provides an innovative and fresh approach to the traditional junior surfing competition in an effort to unearth the new wave of Australian surfing talent. “The standard is really high at this event,” Steele continued. “Everyone’s ripping so it’s good to come down here and test yourself against really good surfers.”

Unlike other surfing competitions, the Ocean & Earth Teenage Rampage allows competitors (16 years and under) to surf three heats each without elimination instead of the traditional cutthroat format – with each surfer’s two highest scoring rides from each heat will be added together, along with bonus points awarded according to the position the competitor finishes in each heat.

Tommy Boucault (Ocean Shores, NSW) was also another standout in the under 13 division, sitting atop the leaderboard at the end of day one. Whilst in the girls division it was Sarah Mason (Tugun, QLD), in the 16 and under division, and Beth Palmer (Caloundra, QLD) who led the way with some critical surfing.

The event, which is the one of four Ocean & Earth Teenage Rampage events being staged throughout the year, will act as a qualifying event to the Ocean & Earth International Teenage Rampage to be held at Curl Curl in December. With finals set to determine the four divisions tomorrow, the action shows no signs of relinquishing.

Be sure to get down to Duranbah as there will also be a host of beach activities and challenges with great prizes taking place throughout the day. For more information log onto surfingqueensland.com.au The Ocean & Earth Teenage Rampage is proudly supported by Ocean & Earth, Vodafone and Surfing Queensland.