Newcastle’s Surfest 2012 Starts This Week
Taj Burrow; Image courtesy of Surfest.com
2012 will mark the 27th year of Surfest, Australia’s largest surfing event. Established in 1985, Surfest was initially created by Newcastle City Council in an attempt to reinvent Newcastle’s image from that of an Industrial city to a beach town. Surfest 2012 will be held between March 7-18, with events both in and out of the water.
Surfest is set to be full of fierce competition in 2012, with 800 national and international competitors, most notably elite world tour surfers Joel Parkinson and Taj Burrow. The two Aussie surfers will be battling it out amongst other top surfers for the prestigious Mark Richards Trophy at next month’s Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 6-Star rated $US155,000 Burton Toyota Pro at Merewether beach, between the 12-18 March.
As well as drawing in the second and third world ranked male surfers, Surfest 2012 will also be host to the women’s’ world champion Carissa Moore from Hawaii, and second world ranked Aussie surfer Sally Fitzgibbons. The 6-Star rated Hunter Ports Womens Classic will be held between the 12-17 March at Merewether Beach.
Whilst the surfing competition starts on the 7th March, Surfest competitions have already started; with Fanny’s hosting the Miss Surfest Sports Model search. The heats are almost over, but don’t worry if you’ve missed them as the semi’s start on 24February and continue on the 2 March. Then the surf comp begins!
On 7 March, the Wandiyali ATSI Indigenous Classic will kick off Surfest 2012. Other events throughout the week include the CHIKO Pro Junior, Sanbah Cadet Cup, TRACKS Trivia Night, Fighting Fear Movie Screening for Charity, Newcastle Lifeguard Challenge, Newcastle Now High School Teams Challenge, Westfield Kotara Triple O Challenge, Hunter Water Stars of the Future, and many more. For more information or to register to compete or get involved, visit here.
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