TBC Season Comes To A Close

TBC Season Comes To A Close

Tully Wylie 

By Mark Humphrey

Torquay, Vic/Aus. 18^th November 2014. The final round of the Torquay Boardriders Club aggregate competition was held on the 9^th of November at Jan Juc. Having to shift the event from the Saturday organisers had no choice but to move the event from Bells Beach to Jan Juc due to the lack of consistency at Bells Beach. Having said that, competitors managed to pull off some high point scoring waves throughout the day on the smallish Jan Juc sets. With some of the divisions still up for grabs results from the 6^th and final event had a bearing on the eventual division champions for 2014.

The u/14 boy’s final was the 1st cab off the rank with Xavier Huxtable pushed back to the runners up position by Col Fox who had an outstanding day in the small surf. Huxtable has virtually won everything he has entered in 2014 including state and national events and looked to be in a 2 horse race with Fox for the club title. James Hughes finished in 3^rd followed by Ned Evans and Angus Castle.Col Fox picked up the 14's win.

The U/14 girls was taken out by Jesse Van Niekerk ahead of Bella Wilson, Angelique Kefalas and Kyala Happ. The division like the boys was still up for grabs with both Van Niekerk and Wilson a chance to win the division coming into the last event.U14's winner Jesse Van Niekerk

The U/16 girls had India Robinson heading Issabel Cook in the ratings coming into the last event. Both girls have had an outstanding year making the finals of every club event they contested. India Robinson was too good on the day for Cook and managed to take out the win from Izzy Rudland with Cook a further position back in 3^rd place. Maddy Fraser picked up 4^th spot followed by Maggi Ryan.India Robinson picked up the 16's & open womens 

The U/16 boys division had Josh Van Niekerk comfortably leading the ratings coming into the last event and looked the favourite to take out this year’s division. Another commanding performance by Van Niekerk saw him pick up the win from Nathan Rivilland followed by Tully Wylie and Zac Loveless. The division has some exciting prospects coming through with Van Niekerk finishing in the top 2 on every occasion except for a 3^rd placing in round 4. Tully Wylie has picked up some big wins throughout his surfing career and started the season off with a win in round 1. Although not having as good a year this year, Wylie is one surfer the clubs hopes will be the backbone of the club in future years. Tane Bowden is another exciting prospect in the division picking up 3 wins from his 3 starts and looks to be a superstar of the sport in the years ahead.Josh Van Niekerk controlled his final to take the win

The Masters division had Damien Wilson heading Brad Kerr coming into the last round. Wilson has dominated the division with 3 wins and a 7^th place from his 4 starts and completed the year with another win in round 6. Chris Huxtable was 2^nd followed by Brad Kerr with James Miles in 4^th. Wilson looks to have done enough to take out the popular division which had the equal second highest number of contestants throughout the season.Damien Wilson in full flight. Awesome display of surfing every time he goes out.

Like the Masters division, the Grand Masters division was pretty much a race in two between club VP Dave Matthews and Legends competitor Steve Kay. Going into the final round Matthews had 3 wins on the board while Kay had picked up the other 2 wins. Kay had also picked up wins in all of the 5 rounds contested in the Legends category and had already sewn up that division. Unfortunately for Kay work commitments had him off somewhere in the Pacific leaving Matthews unchallenged for the division. Matthews picked up win #4 for the year ahead of Martin Rennhackkamp, Tim Buckley, Rowan Sapwell and Neil Bell-Warren.Dave Matthews looks to have picked up yet another TBC Masters series win

The boys U/18 final was next up with the top 4 in the ratings making it through to the 6 man final. Mickey Robinson led the ratings coming into the last round from Lewis Oats, Josh Cammarere and Casey McCrohan. Jake Wooton and Toby Bishop made up the 6 man final. In the end Casey McCrohan did enough to take out the win from Lewis Oats followed by Josh Cammarere, Toby Bishop, Mickey Robinson and Jake Wooton. This division will be a close call and like the Masters division was well represented throughout the year. Some quality surfing was evident throughout the season and should benefit the club for years to come.With the win, Casey McCrohan put himself in the mix for the 18's title.

The open women’s was the second last final for the day and pitted runaway ratings leader Maylee Fox up against India Robinson, Ruby Campbell and Rikki Bell-Warren. India Robinson managed to back up her earlier U/16 win with a win in the open division. It was an outstanding day for Robinson who has also had a fine year in the state competitions. Having only contested the last 3 rounds of the clubs open women’s division, Robinson picked up 2 wins and a runners up placing and has excellent form heading into the summer series of state and national events. Bell-Warren was runner-up followed by Maylee Fox and Ruby Campbell. Although finishing the final in 3^rd, Fox looks to have done enough to take out the open women’s division for 2014.India again. This time in the open womens.

The final event of the day was the premier open men’s final with Todd Rosewall up against Harrison Mann, Mackenzie Bowden and u16 surfer Tully Wylie. The division was by far the most competitive for the club with close to 40 surfers contesting the division throughout the year. Troy Brooks headed the ratings coming into round 6 with wins in rounds 2, 3 and 4 and a 5^th placing in round 5. Cahill Bell-Warren who had picked up a couple of 3^rd placings throughout the year and also a win in round 5 was away on ASP QS duties and would not figure in the final round. With Troy Brooks a no show the division was still up for grabs with Mann the only chance to challenge for the division win. In the end it was Harrison Mann who got the nod over Rosewall after a count back was needed to separate the two surfers. Tully Wylie picked up 3^rd with Mackenzie Bowden 4^th. In what was a fitting climax to the season, only 2 points separated 1^st to 4^th in the open final.Harrison Mann picked up the win to challenge Brooks for the club's premier division.

Club Vice President Dave Matthews took over the presentation duties from the absent Bell-Warren and started by thanking everyone involved with putting together the competition season. He spoke about the celebration of a club that in the coming month will have half of the junior state representative positions in the nationals held by TBC juniors and about the growth of the club in general. Matthews spoke of the memories he had as a boy coming to the region to surf and thanked all the parents of the junior surfers for taking the time to introduce and encourage their children to participate in the best sporting environment the world has to offer. He finished the presentation duties with the club’s motto “go hard or go home”

This year’s TBC presentation night will be held on the 22^nd of November where all division winners will be recognised and presented with trophies capping off another stellar season for arguably the state’s premier boardriding club.

IMAGES FROM TBC's AGG 6

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