First Grom Games win for iLembe

iLembe Surf Riders’ junior surfers won an historic victory at the weekend, claiming their first ever Sea Harvest KZN Grommet Games honours in Durban.

The youngsters aged 8-16 took on rival teams from the south, the eThekwini Surf Riders – who previously dominated the event – and Ugu Surf Riders.

Competition was tough from the start at Durban’s Marine Beach, with the contest held over two days.

iLembe’s team arrived well prepared however, as almost all of the enthusiastic surfers made it through to the finals.

“Saturday saw some very challenging conditions with wind speeds reaching up to 55kph. Sunday brought clean surf however, with a brisk south-westerly wind grooming the previous day’s swell into highly contestable lines,” said iLembe team manager, Simon Tayler.

iLembe went on to grab five of the nine category finals and the overall title.

In the U8 combined girls and boys event, Seth Seppings dominated, winning his semi-final with a combined wave score of 12.50 and improving to a 15.94 in the final for a comfortable win.

Ella van der Made continued the strong start to claim the U10 Girls section with a 14.66, ahead of iLembe teammate Lila Prinsloo who took silver with an 8.30.

In the U12 Girls event, Coco Clark left the competition behind, scoring the wave of the event with a 9.87 in the semi-final, before outlasting Adriana Canning in the final.

Sean Tayler won a close fought victory in the U12 Boys category, where his score of 14.00 was enough to beat out teammate Levi Vosloo (13.44).

Lola Wang was the final winner for iLembe as her score of 10.34 edged out teammate Cyan Chalupsky (7.20).

Jackson Meyers (2nd, U12 Boys), Johnjon Clark (3rd, U12 Boys), Zoey Seppings (2nd, U14 Girls), Frances Wang (3rd, U14 Girls), Callan Oldreive (2nd, U14 Boys) and Sbonginkosi Mthembu (4th, U16 Boys) were the other iLembe finalists.

“We have such a talented group of youngsters rising through the ranks. The support for each other, from the parents and the community was incredible.

“I’m sure we will be seeing many more victories for our iLembe squad in the near future. A big thank you to Paul Canning, Anne Wright and the team at eThekwini Surfriders and Surfing South Africa for putting on a great event,” said Tayler.

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