Gold Coast, Queensland (Monday, August 20th, 2018) – The Queensland leg of the 2018 Nudie Australian Boardriders Battle will kick off on the Gold Coast this Saturday, the 25th of August and play host to the state’s best boardrider clubs as they battle for a spot at the national final in Newcastle (NSW) in 2019.
Former WSL World Championship Tour (WCT) surfer Bede Durbidge (North Stradbroke, QLD) will be competing in Saturday’s event, representing Point Lookout Boardriders. “The event should be really good. I haven’t competed since Pipe so I’m looking forward to it,” said Durbidge. “I love surfing for my club, and I think the new format is great.”
Reigning Queensland champions Burleigh Boardriders are looking to take their third consecutive win. “The format’s great, we really like the team surfing,” said head coach Kyle Robinson. “We have a similar team to last year, but we’re changing the names up a little. We’re definitely excited.”
The unique format of the event runs differently to the average surfing competition, involving teams of five surfers (2 Open Men, 1 Open Woman, 1 Over 35 Master and 1 Junior). Surfers compete in ‘tag team’ style heats, surfing one at a time and combining their wave scores into a total team score.
“The level of surfing we see at the ABB is always impressive,” said Surfing Queensland CEO Adam Yates. “The unique format combined with the calibre of surfers is recipe for an awesome event.”
The Nudie Australian Boardriders Battle is the biggest grassroots boardriders event in Australian surfing history. It will involve more than 100 of Australia’s best boardriders clubs in eight State qualifying rounds and will culminate in a two day National Final for 24 clubs at Newcastle Beach, NSW. The series is officially sanctioned by the World Surf League (WSL), which allows Australian WSL World Tour surfers (Men & Women) the opportunity to represent their local boardriders club at respective State qualifying events and the National Final.
Prize Money Breakdown
1st: $2,000
2nd: $1,500
3rd: $1,000
4th: $500
The 2018 Nudie Australian Boardriders Battle is proudly supported by Nudie, Woolworths, Hyundai, AirAsia, Summer Bright Lager, Drink Wise, 2XP, LocalSearch, WSL, MySurf.Tv, Fox Sports, The City of Newcastle, The NSW Government Visit NSW and Surfing Australia.