A determined Ethekwini unit prevailed in testing conditions at Port Alfred’s West Beach to be crowned team champions at the 37th SA Bodyboarding Championships on Thursday September 26.
The KZN unit picked up a unique hat-trick of titles winning the “spirit of championship” trophy and team captain Tracy Delport bagging the ladies title. These accolades earned the spirited group the prestigious Fishman Trophy which they managed to prize back from Cape Town’s grasp.
Ethekwini bodyboarding have been a dominant outfit at the championships until Cape Town Bodyboarding turned the tables to win the championships over the last two years.
Nelson Mandela Bay Bodyboarding ended 5th but were buoyed by the success of Ashley De Pontes who won SABA trophy (Masters) for picking up the most points in the tournaments run by the association this season. De Pontes came up a second and third time to the prize-giving table to receive his award for winning the Masters SABA award for drop knee and for coming third in the Masters final, respectively.
“I’m very proud of myself that I got that far … I am very proud that I got through because we had some good riders out there,” said de Pontes. The conditions out there were actually quite good (on Thursday) because the wind (south-wester) was helping the waves maintain their shape. So we had better and longer rides.”
Taylor Halse (u14 juniors) from NMB made it a hat-trick of titles, when he won the u14 junior title for the third consecutive year running, while Clinton Millard – a former SA Bodyboarding champ – also competing for the team, picked up his first title in 19 years by winning the Masters division (over 40) .
Delport who on Thursday had to be at her best in her individual finals heat against teammate Caitlin Steenkamp, (2nd), Lezandre Wolmarans (Cape Winelands) and Vashti Craig (Eden) as the southwester pounded the ocean was overjoyed by contributing to her team’s success.
“I’m incredibly emotional, and right now I’m feeling blessed … I did have a inner spirit of confidence for the team. We placed third last year and all the riders have come along so, so beautifully and the spirit in the team the whole way through the contest was one of support and everyone stuck together and pushed each other … it’s been such an incredible thing to see. Bringing this trophy back home to Ethekwini I can’t even put words to it.”
She said the conditions were energy-sapping but mental and physical preparation were important in contests of this nature.
“Your fitness levels have to be pretty good. If you not used to the cold water your heart rate increases so you’ve got to work on your fitness levels before you can actually keep busy in the water … so it was pretty tough even on the good days … there was a lot of moving water out there.”
Men’s Pro champion Aden Kleve of Cape Town surfing in his finals heat on Wednesday at Guido’s side of the beach, overcame some of the roughest conditions some say they have experienced as the easterlies lashed violently against the pier only to “refract” to form “second” waves. Though heart-stopping out in the ocean it made for spectacular rides as Teegan Coulonval (Cape Winelands 2nd), Victor Holloway, (Cape Winelands 3rd) and Hugo Naude (Eden 4th) could not match the 13.17 tallied by Kleve. As if that wasn’t enough for the the Capetonian, he went on to win the drop knee division.
. “We had some intense waves this week; nature showed up at full throttle, and gave us some serious work,” he said. We had a really competitive field so I had to really pull up our weight to get the waves we wanted in those crazy conditions.”
However, Kleve said he would not complain about the weather and conditions.
“Bodyboarding is an extreme-adrenaline junkie sport … the bigger the better. Particularly with bodyboarding we look for short explosive waves … to get a really nice barrel and look for an aerial manoeuvre …or a 360 deree turn.”
Kleve was ecstatic about his drop knee success, saying “ this can only be done once … it’s really really hard to be on top of both disciplines, so I’m really happy to have reached that pinnacle for myself – in my 20th year competing in bodyboarding.”
The men’s 21 year and older division was won by Roland Jack (Cape Winelands) followed by Kade Howorth (Eden), Bart Larter (Cape Town) and St John Calitz (CTB), while in the juniors ages 15 to 17 Hugo Naude (Eden) showed why bodyboarding’s furture was in good hands, winning over Mika Justino (Ethekwini) and John Krige of Cape Town.
Millard, who also doubles as one of the organisers. says despite less than ideal conditions on Monday and early on Thursday the staging of the championships was successful. “There was enough enthusiasm that pulled everyone through and the camaraderie is something special to see.”
The full list of results can be seen at https://bit.ly/4dcdMs3
