Sunningdale surfer, Kayla Nogueira was one of the big winners at this year’s Lizzard Hurricane KZN Surfing Champs. The teenager won the U16 division of the tournament and placed second in the senior ladies competition.

She was part of a record 170 of KZN’s top ranking wave-riders competing for individual and team honours over two days at Bronze Beach in uMhlanga.

The competition was hosted by the Wave Wizards Surf Club.

For Nogueira, the win came on the back of her selection for the South African junior team for the ISA World Junior Surfing Championship in California, where she finished 25th in the U16 division.

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“This was my first competition since the world champs and I was stoked to win the U16 division. It was also a huge honour to finish behind Heather Clarke in the senior division as she’s a fantastic surfer. Overall the competition was fun, it’s just a pity the waves weren’t bigger,” she explained.

Nogueira who is ranked sixth in the open women’s division in the country said she hopes to improve on that ranking as she builds to a new season of surfing.

“All the major competitions are done for this year and I’m now concentrating on my training for 2019. I’ve set myself a few goals and I’m confident I’ll be able to achieve them,” she said.

The other notable performances at the KZN champs was uMhlanga surfer and four-time world champion, Chris Knutsen, who was the clear winner in the Masters 55+ division.

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Commentator, and former Championship Tour campaigner, Greg Swart said “The provincial championships was a smashing success with surfers once again raising the bar. The standard of surfing was excellent. There’s been a definite growth in surfing, especially amongst the U12 boys and girls from last year. It was a great event all-round. A lot of factors came together – the weather on the final day, the organisation and the intensity that everybody brought to the contest.”

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