iLembe surfing royalty crowned at annual champs

iLembe crowned its best age group surfers at the weekend, ensuring a year’s worth of bragging rights and free rounds for the winners.

From U10 through to over-60, every North Coast surfer worth their salt had a chance to taste victory at the fourth round of iLembe Surf Riders Association trials, which also served as the district championships.

The fourth round played out like any typical surfing event, but was also the final opportunity to gain points for the overall championship standings.

In the U10s, which allowed both boys and girls, Johnjon Clark and Lila Prinsloo shared the spoils after winning their match-ups on Sunday morning.

Levi Vosloo continued his good form to claim the U12 boys win on the day, but it was second placed Marcello Zedde – who had won all three previous trials – that came out on top in the overall championships.

It was almost a carbon copy in the U14 boys event, where Rylie Balfour grabbed gold, but Nathan Tayler – who was 3-for-3 coming into the final trial – was crowned overall champion.

Maxine Kauffmann proved she was the surfer to beat in the U14 girls category, where she won both the fourth trial and overall competition.

The closest event of all was the U16 boys, where Ry Colepeper won on the day to earn a tied first place overall finish with Nqubeko Nzuza.

Both surfers won two of the four events and finished second in the other two, pushing each other to the last day.

Catherine Jacob was one of the standout performers, finishing second in the U16 girls and first in the open women events.

It solidified her position atop the U16 leader board, while she impressively finished second overall in the open category.

Joel Duncan won gold in the U18 boys draw, which was also enough to put him ahead of the chasing Daniel Edwards in the championships.

Karl Steen dominated the open men’s final on Sunday, with his win also earning him first place overall ahead of Ryan Balfour.

Balfour would go on to win the over-40 men’s category.

In the over-35 men’s category, Steve Theunissen grabbed first on the day but it was Allan Johns who scored top points in the championships.

Lyle Bottcher’s two wins from three outings was good for the top oplacing in the over-40 men’s group.

There was no over-50 event on the weekend, which meant James Taylor – who had won two of three previous trials – claimed victory.

Steve Quinn won the over-55 competition on the weekend and the overall championships.

Fred le Roux scored a hat-trick of victories in the three trials he entered to win the over-60 men’s overall title.

Season awards
The season-ending awards were also handed out at the event.

Junior novice of the year – Tyler Balfour
Most frothing grom – Levi Vosloo
Junior boy surfer of the year – Marcello Zedde
Junior girl surfer of the year – Mayah Potgieter/Catherine Jacob
Most improved – Sean Tayler
Open men’s surfer of the year – Karl Steen
Open women’s surfer of the year – Oli Brand
Most frothing ballie – Warren Blackmore
Senior surfer of the year – Lyle Bottcher
Sportsmanship – Kiera Fletcher
Conduct – Wonderboy Sipinga

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