Ballito Women’s Pro and Trials to run on Sunday

On Sunday, June 28 the Ballito Women’s Pro and Ballito Pro Trials presented by Billabong will go down at Surfer’s Beach in Ballito.

Here are a few fast facts about the event.

The Ballito Women’s Pro is a QS1000 rated event on the World Surf League (WSL) Qualifying Series (QS).

The Ballito Pro Trials determines the two trialists who gain entry to the R3 million Ballito Pro presented by Billabong, a R3 million QS 10 000 rated event.

Both events form part of the Ballito Pro Festival, a multi-sports and cultural festival that runs from June 28 to July 5 at Willard Beach and surrounds in Ballito.

The Ballito Women’s Pro features an 18 person field of South Africa’s best established and emerging female surf stars.

Tanika Hoffman (Hout Bay) is the top seed, followed by Emma Smith (Jeffreys Bay), Teal Hogg (Umhlanga) and Heather Clark (Port Shepstone). Samkelisiwe Cele (Durban) will become the first Zulu girl to compete in a WSL event

The Ballito Pro Trials features a 32-man field of highly ranked international and South African competitors including Tiago Pires (POR), Connor Coffin (USA), Pedro Henrique (BRA) and SA’s David van Zyl (Glenashley), Dylan Lightfoot (Jeffreys Bay) and Slade Prestwich (Scottburgh)

Both events use four person heats with the top two in each heat advancing to the next round until the last four in the event contest the final.

The Ballito Women’s Pro offers total prize-money of R30 000 with R10 000 and 1 000 QS rankings going to the winner.

The top two finishers in the final of the Ballito Pro Trials qualify for the Ballito Pro where they are guaranteed a minimum of R9 000 in prize-money and 550 QS rankings points.

The call will likely be made just after 7am, so we will see you on the beach!