THE Coffs Harbour Boardriders Club is through to the final of the nudie Australian Boardriders Battle.

The result comes after the club finished second behind Lennox-Ballina in the Northern NSW qualifier held at Gallows Beach on Saturday. Coffs just needed to finish in the top three to qualify for the national final which will be held in Newcastle.

Club president Lee Winkler said this will be the seventh time in the competition’s eight year history that Coffs Harbour has reached the big stage.

“I think the club has got to a point where we don’t necessarily expect success but we work hard to make sure we can get it,” Winkler said.

“We’ve been pretty successful and I think that showed after the event. If we’d finished in second place six or seven years ago, we probably would’ve had a big party to celebrate it but the attitude now is the job’s not done. Everyone pretty much went home not long afterwards thinking we’ve still got some work to do.”

The highlight of the day for the club was Rosie Smart being named as the Oakley Prism Performer Award winner for being the standout surfer of the competition.

Winkler said the 15-year-old had an amazing day.

“She’s surfing as an open women competitor not a junior girl so she’s being judged against the other women,” he said.

“She didn’t even get to show her full repertoire in the comp, that was just a glimpse of what Rosie is capable of doing.

“There’s a lot of improvement still left in her.”

When the team reaches Newcastle for the final, it’s likely the Coffs team will be in a good position to advance through the early rounds.

“The seeding for the Australian Boardriders Battle is based on the previous national final,” Winkler explained.

“We finished top-10 last year, equal ninth, so we’ll come up with a decent draw.”

 

By Brad GREENSHIELDS