World-class surfing for KZN soon
The Ballito Pro is the highlight of the competitive year for many international surfers.
WILLARD Beach in Ballito, KwaZulu-Natal will host the Ballito Pro Surf Festival, presented by Billabong, from June 27 to July 9.
The World Surf League’s top-ranked performers will be joined by the cream of South Africa’s men, women and junior surfers for the 14-day festival.
It’s the ninth successive year the region will host the event, which is World Qualifying Series 10 000 rated and has a prize-pool of R3.4 million.
Women and juniors will also be in action.
The 49th edition of the world’s longest-running professional surfing event will be bigger and better than ever in 2017 as it again welcomes the support of global apparel and equipment giant Billabong, which is celebrating the 20th annual running of its acclaimed Billabong Junior Series this year.
“Billabong is honoured to continue our relationship with KwaDukuza,” says Chad D’Arcy, group marketing and sales manager for Billabong South Africa.
The 2016 field included a dozen of the world’s elite WSL Championship Tour (CT) surfers and was won by Connor O’Leary (Australia), who, along with runner-up Joan Duru (France), Ezekiel Lau (Hawaii), Jeremy Flores (France) and Australians Ethan Ewing and Jack Freestone, all went on to qualify for the prestigious 2017 CT, thanks to the significant number of ranking points they earned in Ballito.
The 112-man field for the event provides the local WSL Africa members with invaluable experience competing against the world’s best, along with opportunities to earn prize-money and coveted rankings points which assist them in gaining entry to the higher-rated events internationally and also count towards the annual WSL Africa title.
“It’s been an honour and a pleasure for WSL Africa to work alongside such a progressive thinking municipality as KwaDukuza for the past nine years,” said WSL Africa operations manager, Colin Fitch.
“We’re so grateful to the town of Ballito and its residents for welcoming the surfers into their homes and surf for 14 days of world class surfing.”
Alongside the surfing, visitors will be spoiled for choice with non-stop activities providing even more entertainment throughout the Ballito festival site. South Africa’s hottest musical acts appealing to all tastes – rock, pop, hip hop, kwaito, electro and dance – will be performing live on Salt Rock Beach over the last weekend.
Beach and extreme sports, culinary contests as well as quality retail and food stalls will captivate visitors to this coastal holiday highlight.
