Surfing Australia

Soli Bailey and Kirsten Ogden win the blue ribbon Rusty Gromfest at Lennox Head

Monday, 12 July 2010

Soli Bailey and Kirsten Ogden win the blue ribbon Rusty Gromfest at Lennox Head

Local Suffolk Park and Lennox Head surfers dominate  this year’s event

Sunday July 11  2010 : Lennox Head NSW Australia: Soli Bailey and Kirsten Ogden, both Suffolk Park NSW local surfers,  have added their names to one of surfing’s greatest honour rolls by taking out the 16 year and under boy and girl divisions of the 2010 Rusty Gromfest.

On an excellent final day with clean offshore winds and quality waves to 1.5m (3 to 4 feet), the two Byron Bay locals saved their best performances for the final and both scored excellent to outstanding rides to nail their victories.

Bailey set up his win in the final with an excellent  8.75 opening ride and shortly after backed that ride up with another excellent 8.45 to win the final on a tally of 17.20 to defeat Cronulla surfer Zac Scott on 15.50 with Cooper Chapman (Sydney north) in third and Joshua Hay (Central Coast NSW) in 4th.

“That was a fantastic final – all surfers were ripping and I knew to win I’d need two excellent rides in the final – that was what I was chasing and it worked perfectly – two Suffolk victories is awesome – we’re both stoked!” said Bailey after his win.

Kirsten Ogden sealed her win very late in the final when she posted an outstanding 9.00 point ride to defeat Brodie Doyle (Gold Coast) with Nikki Van Dyke (Phillip Island) in third and India Payne (Phillip Island) in fourth.

“This is the biggest win for me” said Kirsten.

“This event is so big and always gets the best surfers and to win is amazing --- and two Suffolk Park surfers winning is just sick!! – I can’t believe  it– great for the Byron area!”

Apart from the Suffolk Park locals dominating the two blue ribbon finals, Lennox Head locals were also in great form with Zac Wightman and Michael Wright winning the 12 and 14 Boys divisions respectively!

A large international contingent also surfed here and Karelle Poppke from Tahiti performed best winning the girls 16 division.

A photo gallery of complimentary images  from each day at the Rusty Gromfest can be found and downloaded by following this link -  https://www.filesanywhere.com/fs/v.aspx?v=897264895d647678a9a7  

The Rusty Gromfest is made possible due to the assistance from FCS, Otis, bandit fm, NBN, The Northern Star. The Kerrazy Air Invitational is presented by Nixon.

Winners across all divisions  listed below ----- For all results follow this link and download the spredsheet - http://surfingaustralia.com/event-heat-draw.php?id=129

16 Boys –
16 Girls – Kirsten Ogden (Suffolk Park)
14 Boys –  Michael Wright (Lennox Head)
14 Girls – Karelle Poppke (Tahiti)
12 Boys – Zac Wightman (lennox Head)
12 Girls-  Laura Poncini (Sunshine Coast)

Kerrazy Airshow Invitational – Cooper Chapman (Nth Narrabeen)