Womens Mr Price Pro ends with 24 riders at equal 19th

Roseanne Hodge : photo Greg Ewing

- KwaZulu- Natal, Ballito – The event that was scheduled to start on Saturday June 28th was postponed due to extreme surf and gale force winds that prevented organisers from completing the event within the assigned window.

The four remaining heats of the Women’s Round of 48 were completed in choppy two-meter surf at Surfers Beach in Ballito this morning, with the final eight surfers advancing into the Round of 24.

All 24 surfers remaining in the event earned an equal 19th place finish, splitting the prize money and ratings points equally with each surfer taking home R7900 (US$1000) and 1200 ratings points.

Top South African in the event Rosy Hodge (East London) dominated her Round of 48 heat over Johanne Defray (FRA), Laura Enever (AUS) and Claudia Goncalves (BRA). The current ASP World No. 13 used here elite competition experience to out-position her rivals, snatching the two best waves of the heat to advance in first place.

“The way things have gone has been a bit of a shake-up for everyone, I don’t think anyone’s really been in this situation before where you make it through your heats and then it’s actually the end of your run,” said Hodge. “I’ve always looked forward to the Mr Price Pro and both Mr Price and the ASP are making the best effort that they can but it’s just a situation where the surf is so variable and you can’t control what the ocean is doing.”

South African Open Women’s Champion Heather Clark (Port Shepstone) was the only other South African to advance through this morning’s heats, placing second behind heat winner and World No. 3 Paige Hareb (New Zealand). Cape Town’s Stacey Guy (Melkbosstrand) struggled to find a decent scoring ride in her Round of 48 heat and was relegated to fourth place, finishing with an equal 37th position.

WQS ratings leader Coco Ho (Haw) has maintained her WQS No. 1 position alongside Carissa Moore (Haw) after becoming the last surfer to advance out of the Round of 48 this morning. Ho won her heat over of Francisco Santos (PRT), Anne-Cecile LeTallec and Erica Hosseini (USA).
“It’s a shame, I flew all the way across the world to get here and only got to put the singlet on once,” said Ho. “I’m really bummed that I’ve come out of this event still tied in first on the WQS with Carissa. I was looking forward to getting a lead on the ratings and having some fun at the same time, but with everyone splitting the points it’s not going to matter to our positions on the ratings.”

Also advancing into the Round of 24 this morning were former ASP World Tour surfer Claire Bevilacqua (AUS) and Amandine Sanchez (FRA), who finished in first and second positions, during heat 10.

The 2009 Mr Price Pro Ballito is the second event in the history of ASP Women’s World Tour and WQS competition not to have been completed, the last of which was the 1998 Lacanau Pro in France. A total of ten ASP Men’s World Tour and WQS events have been called off due to poor or unsurfable conditions.

The 6 Star ASP World Qualifying Series Men’s events gets underway today with the Men’s Round of 144.

For more information log onto the website at www.mrpricepro.com

Women’s Round of 48 Results:

Heat 9: Paige Hareb (NZL)11.67; Heather Clark (ZAF) 7.66; Crystal Vail(AUS) 3.57; Suelen Naraisa (BRA) 3.06
Heat 10: Claire Bevilacqua (AUS) 10.67; Amandine Sanchez (FRA) 5.17;Laura Macauly (AUS) 4.83; Stacey Guy (ZAF) 3.00
Heat 11: Roseanne Hodge (ZAF) 11.66; Johanne Defay (FRA) 5.70; Laura Enever (AUS) 5.36; Claudia Goncalves (BRA) 3.97
Heat 12: Coco Ho (HAW) 10.26; Francisca Santos (PRT) 7.00; Anne-Cecile Le Tallec (FRA) 2.83; Erica Hosseini (USA) 0.00

Check the Full Results

Womens WQS Ratings

1 Moore,Carissa HAW 5820
1 Ho,Coco HAW 5820
3 Bevilacqua,Claire AUS 5600
4 Pellizzari,Ornella ARG 4925
5 Miley-Dyer,Jessi AUS 4860
6 Hareb,Paige NZL 4800
7 Curren,Lee Ann FRA 4760
8 Sanchez,Amandine FRA 4660
9 Robb,Nikita ZAF 4570
10 Donohoe,Amee AUS 4490
11 Mason,Airini NZL 4465
12 Woods,Rebecca AUS 4425
13 Hodge,Rosanne ZAF 4420
14 Erickson,Sage USA 4370
15 Fitzgibbons,Sally AUS 4200
16 Blanchard,Alana HAW 4060
17 Goncalves,Claudia BRA 3930
18 Santos,Francisca PRT 3840
19 Silva,Jacqueline BRA 3820
20 Hamilton,Bethany HAW 3800
21 Ado,Pauline FRA 3700
21 Schmitz,Bruna BRA 3700
23 Atherton,Nicola AUS 3680
24 Beardmore,Sarah GBR 3650
25 Abubo,Megan HAW 3555
26 Vail,Crystal AUS 3400
27 Chudleigh,Tarryn ZAF 3380
27 Naraisa,Suelen BRA 3380
29 Penfold,Dara AUS 3250
30 Hashimoto,Sayuri JPN 3245
31 Paul,Wini NZL 3180
32 Hickson,Jessica AUS 2980
32 Sarran,Caroline FRA 2980
34 Keighran,Angela AUS 2900
35 Grimwood,Jessica AUS 2690
36 Mulanovich,Sofia PER 2665
37 Rocha,Joana PRT 2645
38 Dobson,Jess AUS 2600
39 Le Tallec,Anne-Cecile FRA 2520
40 Macaulay,Laura AUS 2500
40 Redman-Carr,Melanie AUS 2500
42 Hagiwara,Mizuki JPN 2450
43 Buitendag,Bianca ZAF 2440
44 Boelsterli,Demi USA 2340
45 Stoyle,Dimity AUS 2330
46 Hosseini,Erica USA 2300
47 Gryde,Leilani HAW 2200
48 Werneck,Marina BRA 2100
49 Cope,Gabi HAW 1940
50 Enever,Laura AUS 1920