Ilembe Surfriders barrel down to East London

A top class Ilembe Surfriders senior side will be representing the region in this year’s South African Surfing Championships hosted by Buffalo City at Nahoon Reef in East London this week.

Up to 150 of South Africa’s best surfing talent, including eight representatives from Ilembe district, will be battling it out for the coveted men’s and women’s open titles as well as a host of age group and divisional honours.

Representatives from the Surfing South Africa Rising Stars programme will also be participating in the championship event, which runs from Wednesday, August 21 to Sunday, August 25.

Last years host club Buffalo City Surfriders dominated the overall awards.

They won the Champion’s Cup, which is presented to the team that scores the highest combined points over the competition, the President’s Cup for the highest scores in the open divisions, and they retained the Master’s Cup for the 13th year in a row.

Twenty current and former national team members are competing this year while seven of the nine 2018 South African Champions will be defending their titles.

In its 54th year, the annual surf championship, sponsored by Mercedes-Benz is one of the longest running surfing tournaments in the world, with the inaugural event taking place in 1965.

Over the years Nahoon Reef, considered one of the sharkiest spots in the country, has hosted numerous iconic South African Surfing Championships and in 1978 became the first of only two South African cities to host a world surfing championship.

The heats as well as the event schedule will be posted on the Surfing South Africa website www.liveheats.com/surfingsouthafrica and on Surfing SA Facebook page. Results will be updated daily.

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