Eastern Suburbs Boardriders Mark Their Territory

By Sarah Healey on January 1, 2013 in News

Boardriders clubs of the Eastern Suburbs can all confidently boast about another year of sterling performances in 2012 – a year that witnessed fresh and fierce new talent in the form of the local grommets, consistently solid results from the familiar faces, and the addition of women’s teams that have charged to the foreground, impressing their male counterparts and spectators alike.

It was a case of the old sibling rivalry between Bondi and Bronte at the start of the year in the Jim Beam Surftag competition, with Bondi running hot on the heels of the talented Bronte team. According to Bondi Boardriders’ president Beau Sevastos, it is this intense rivalry that takes the local surfers to the next level.

“There’s a lot of banter between Bondi and Bronte and there are quite a few friends amongst us, although when it’s club against club it becomes very tense and we are very serious about wanting to take each other down. I think it’s good as it pushes each club to want to be the best,” Sevastos said.

The rivalry certainly paid off.

And it looks like the stirring paid off for both clubs, with Bronte taking out the Jim Beam Surftag NSW South division title ahead of second placed Bondi, meaning both clubs qualified for the national titles.

Bondi also spawned some talented micro-grommets. One whipper-snapper, seven year-old Will Emmanuel, even won the last contest of the year. Another, Louis Kennedy Hurst, took first place in the Under 12s, while at the other end of the scale, long time member Jason Burland took out the Masters title. The club also started a girls’ division, which proved to be a great success, and Sevastos hopes to see more of the fairer sex join up in 2013.

“It was good to see the girls compete down there with the guys, and the guys are very encouraging!” he said.

Bronte Boardriders president Robert Bruns dubbed 2012 their “golden period”, and the proof really is in the pudding.

“We came out on top by winning the Jim Beam NSW South and State Titles, and came fourth in the Australian titles. Our 2012 champions were undoubtedly Ryan Clark and Caleb Reid. Our ‘hot prospects’ for 2013 include Jason Pisani and Jack Radley, with Jack Johnson being the favourite to take the wooden spoon,” Bruns said.

When asked what 2013 had in store for the Bronte club, Bruns was uncharacteristically confident?

“We’ll be defending our state titles and looking forward to more east-side domination,” he said.

Maroubra clubs MSA and Southend Boardriders have also come up trumps in 2012. Southend president Weston Moore was stoked to announce that they had posted their biggest membership ever in 2012.

“We have over 125 members, including nine divisions from Micro-Grommets up to Grand Masters (45+). We also have the largest women’s and girls’ membership in the region and a family friendly culture,” Wes gloated.
Women’s champ Lisa Farrugia took home a custom surfboard and Opens champ Monty Tait won $500. 2013 will open with a sign-on barbecue, cricket day and DJ at South Maroubra in early March (details can be found at southendboardriders.com.au).

MSA president Corey Adams was ecstatic to report that his club had made the Australian finals of the Jim Beam Surftag championships for the first time ever, with an A-team including the likes of Blake Thornton, Mark Matthews, Troy Van Vilet, Matt Howard, Brett Black and team captain Luke Kennedy.

“We’ve got a really big year planned for 2013,” Adams said. “We’ve definitely got the best kids coming through on the Eastern Beaches, especially in the Under 18s and Under 20s divisions with Jake Scott, Jack Pacey and Nick Kennedy. Next year is our 50th anniversary and we are planning our comeback to many more teams events such as the Kirra Teams Challenge, another crack at the Surftag and all the grommet teams events we can enter,” Adams said.

All the local boardriders clubs encourage new members. Details about joining and attending events are regularly posted on their individual websites. You can check them out at www.bondiboardriders.com.au, www.maroubramsa.com.au and www.southendboardriders.com.au. You can find out more about Bronte Boardriders by searching for their page on Facebook.