Mandurah Board Riders hosted the inaugural Makin Homes Peel Pro presented by Star Surf + Skate at Avalon Point in Mandurah last weekend.
It’s been over fifteen years since we have seen a surfing contest of this calibre in the Peel region and thanks to the local sponsors Makin Homes, Star Surf + Skate, Coast FM, Mandurah City Council and the Mandurah Mail, surfing in Mandurah has been put back on the map in a very big way.
The best surfers in the state travelled from all over Western Australia to compete for the prize money that ended up totalling almost $7000 due to a last minute splurge of extra money into the draw couresty of local builder and event sponsor Lee Makin.
Avalon Point didn’t disappoint in the wave department either. Although not overly recognised as a high performance wave, the level of talent on display from competitors made the conditions look amazing and thr swell gods were definitely smiling on us all weekend - the weather was great, the winds were light and the surf absolutely pumped.
Felix Leaver from Yallingup surfed beyond his years to take out both the Open Men and the Pro Junior divisions. The Open Men’s final consisted of Felix and another young Yallingup local, Duke Nagtzaam. The boys from down south fought it out and Duke was also one of the standout surfers of the whole event. With 30 seconds remaining in the final Duke required an 8.04 to win the contest and he caught a wave that he went to town on with three big turns but he unfortunately fell on his last turn and came up just short with a 7.33 and a very deserving Felix was crowned the inaugural Makin Homes Peel Pro champion.
In the Pro Junior division local boy and Star team rider Harry McPherson was the surfer who took it right up to Open Champ Felix. Harry led at the start of the final with some explosive and hifi surfing. Unfortunately for Harry, Felix remained calm and surfed with a consistent and solid backhand attack to dominate the day's competition and go home $1500 richer for his efforts.
In the Over 35’s it was City Beach surfer Paul 'Antman' Paterson who claimed the win. In the first day of competition Ant managed to secure the highest heat score for the entire competition with a 19.67 out of a possible 20. Local Surfer Rory Flynn finished second in this division and was crowned the best performance from a local surfer for his efforts.
In the Open Women's division it was Denver Young from Cottesloe who surfed solidly to smash her competition and take home the championship. She beat fellow out of towners Phoebe McGregor, Jaala Baldock and Bailee Hastie in that order.
Murray Jacobs from Swanbourne managed to secure an unbelievable 8 point ride in the Over 45 Men’s final to beat local surfers Sheldon Spencer, Gavin Daniels and Brian Williams on their home turf.
The only local to win one of the divisions (and it was great to see him back in a competition rashie) was Keith Lebretton the Mandurah legend won the Over 50’s in fine form. Keith has been surfing around the Mandurah area and remembers when these types of contests were an annual event. Keith couldn’t miss out on the opportunity to get involved and was great to see such an iconic Mandurah surfer take out this division.
The event was such a success Mandurah Board Riders will be back next year to make this an annual event and even bigger and better than last year.
Results for the Makin Homes Peel Pro presented by Star Surf and Skate were:
Open Men’s
1st Felix Lever (Yallingup)
2nd Duke Nagtzaam (Yallingup)
3rd Jesse Molloy (Secret Harbour) / Drew Everest (Scarborough)
Pro Junior
1st Felix Leaver (Yallingup)
2nd Harry McPherson (Mandurah)
3rd Charlie Wise (Cottesloe) / Ace Van peer (Mandurah)
Open Women
1st Denver Young (Cottesloe)
2nd Phoebe McGregor (Yallingup)
3rd Jayla Baldock (Scarborough)
4th Bailee Hastie (Margaret River)
Over 35’s
1st Paul Paterson (City Beach)
2nd Rory Flynn (Mandurah)
3rd Ian Macpherson (Wembley Downs)
4th Ross Vanzijl (Mandurah)
Over 45’s
1st Murray Jacobs (Swanbourne)
2nd Sheldon Spencer (Mandurah)
3rd Gavin Daniels (Mandurah)
4th Brian Williams (Mandurah)
Over 50’s
1ST Keith Lebretton (Mandurah)
2nd Sheldon Spencer (Mandurah)
3rd Mal Lodge (Mandurah)
4th Doug Kitcheman (Golden Bay)