Le-Ba win Kirra Teams Challenge
Le-Ba Boardriders have scored their biggest win, taking out the prestigious Rip Curl Kirra Teams Challenge today.
It was the 23rd year of the Rip Curl Kirra Teams Challenge and today’s win was described by Kirra Boardriders event co coordinator John Robbins as the strongest ever victory in the event’s history.
“Le-Ba’s win includes seven heat wins and a third placing across their required eight-surfer team and seven wins is unprecedented at this event. It’s been an awesome performance from this club and it will be a record high score of 30 points that will stand and be very hard to beat,” he said.
It was Le-Ba’s first win in the event and comes on the back of their win the previous weekend in the Queensland Surftag final which qualified them for this weekend’s national final in Sydney.
Le Ba fielded a strong and well-balanced team, opening with elite Pro Junior surfer and former World Junior Champion James Wood, who set the scene for the win last Friday when he posted the highest scoring heat win of the event. Wood’s heat win included the event’s only perfect 10-point ride, along with a 7.5 to give him the event’s highest heat tally of 17.5. His teammates continued the winning run through and then relied on their final surfer Adam Melling (Lennox Head) to secure the win.
The pressure was immense on Melling, with Le Ba leading the 38-strong field but only by one point over event favourites Snapper Rocks (Gold Coast Qld) and Curl Curl (Nth Sydney Beaches).
Melling needed to win to put the overall win out of Snapper and Curl Curl’s reach. A second placing would leave the title open to a possible surf-off and a third or fourth placing would leave the door wide open for Snapper or Curl Curl to take the win outright.
Adding further to the pressure on Melling was the strongest heat opposition of the event – Brazilian World Qualifying Surfer Thiago Pires now resident in Sydney, along with Sunshine Coast rising star Mitch Coleborn were drawn in this same heat.
After a slow start to the heat by Melling which saw him in last place after seven minutes, Melling’ patience paid off. He found a good larger wave and exploded through three sections, executing massive bottom to top turn combinations and scored an excellent 8.83 to go straight to the lead.
At the 12-minute mark he backed that score up with 8.5 ride which put him way ahead of his rivals and secured the heat and overall event win for Le-Ba.
Melling’s heat tally of 17.33 was the second highest of the event behind teammate James Wood, highlighting the dominance of the Le-Ba team at this event.
Team members from Le-Ba included James Wood, Jock Barnes, Marcus Aboody, Stuart Kennedy, Joe Hudson, Dan Emery, Mark Hernage and Adam Melling.
PICTURE: The Le-Ba boys are jubilant as they chair Adam Melling up the beach after his title-winning performance. Picture: STEVE ROBERTSON, courtesy of Surfing Australia.
