COFFS Harbour Boardriders Club has had a September to remember achieving top results in two prestigious surfing competitions.

The club’s teams excelled in team events at the Vissla Junior Kirra Teams Challenge and the Saltwater Wine Mid North Coast Board Club Battle.

The club’s junior boys competed in the Kirra Teams Challenge held at Duranbah on 20-22 September.

The event is the largest team format event in Australia, with each team made up of two surfers for each age group in the Under 12s, Under 14s, Under 16s and Under 18s divisions.

The Coffs Harbour Boardriders Club team included Will Martin, Creed Smart, Carter Crowley, Benji Lowen, Luca Martin, Hamish Harrigan, Sage Lewis, and Jarrah White.

The reserve surfers travelling with the team in case of injury were Tye Morrison, Max Crowley and Jet Dean.

The Coffs team finished third at the prestigious event.

Coffs Harbour Boardriders Club social media coordinator Emma Dean explained what the third-place finish meant to the club.

“Each surfer got one heat of fifteen minutes duration and their result gave us points for each position,” she said.

“At the end of the competition, the team with the best results (highest points) were the winners.

“Our team came up with three wins, four second places and one third place to end the competition in equal third place.

“We gained outright third position after a countback against Windansea Surf riders, power club Snapper Rocks were first and Freshwater second in the boys division.

“This is a very big achievement for our club, we pocketed $2000 in prize money to invest back into developing our junior team.

“We equalled our best ever finish in this event and team manager Steve Dean is really confident that if these boys stay together as a group, they can go one or two spots better and take the title of junior boys winner.

“It was so great to see all the boys supporting each other during the event.

“It is a real privilege to get selected for this team and we are well known for our depth of talent in the boys pool.

“With so many surfers coming up the junior ranks it’s not so much of a worry when we lose Creed next year to our senior ABB team.”

The weekend before the Kirra Teams Challenge saw both the club’s junior and senior teams travel to Port Macquarie to compete in the Saltwater Wine Mid North Coast Board Club Battle, held on 14-15 September.

The senior team won the event, while the club’s first ever junior tag team finished as semi-finalists.

Emma Dean gave a recap of the successful weekend.

“Our senior team was made up of Creed Smart, Geroge Roberts, Maddison Williams, Benji Lowen and giving us a real boost was Rosie Smart being available after competing internationally,” she said.

“We had a very close win over the hosts Port Macquarie Boardriders when our power surfer Creed Smart really cemented our win after his last wave was a 6.30.

“We won the event by a very small margin of 1.07 points with Woopi boardriders coming in third place.

“Our senior team went the whole day undefeated, winning each heat on their way to the final.”

By Aiden BURGESS