Girls shine bright Day 1 of the O&E Teenate Rampage

Cody Klein : photo Wes Lonergan/Surfing NSW

Cronulla — There were dominate starts for newly crowned Under-16 girls Australian Champion Ellie-Jean Coffey (Crescent Head, NSW) and Kingscliff’s (NSW) Cody Klein as they went wave for wave in their opening Round 1 heat in the clean 1-2 foot waves at North Cronulla (NSW).

Ellie-Jean was showing no sign of slowing down this morning continuing her recent top form that saw her clinch the national title. “Leading up to and into the Australian titles I’ve been so focused on my training, especially in the smaller conditions like today,” said Ellie-Jean.

In her third wave Ellie-Jean made her presence felt with a 9.33 out of a possible 10. “I love this competition format that they (Ocean & Earth) put on; it feels like I’m free surfing.”

Not to be outdone, the high scoring continued as Cody Klein posted a huge 9.87, the highest wave score of the day so far, which puts her in front and well in contention for the $500.00 Dominelli Ford ‘best wave’ of the event.

“I was lucky to get that wave,” said Klein. “With the type of waves that were coming through you have to play it safe and be consistent to get a decent total.’ Ellie-Jean said there was no chance of her ‘playing it safe’ at the Rampage. “You just have to go for it and don’t hold back.”

Klein may have posted the highest wave score of the day but it was Ellie-Jean who took out the heat and top ranking into tomorrow’s Round 2 with a 25.83 to Klein’s 21.64 Not to be overshadowed by their older female competitors, the Under-13 girls proved that they came prepared posting several high scores of their own. In particular, Laura Poncini (Moffat Beach, QLD), who notched up a wave score of 8.5.

“My ride was all about opportunity and wave selection and there weren’t too many surfable waves out there today,” said Poncini.

The youngster from Queensland’s Sunshine Coast said she was excited to be competing in an event where you don’t get knocked out of the competition after the first round. “This is such a fun event (Ocean & Earth International Teenage Rampage) and if I surf well enough I hope to make it to the finals”

In addition today’s surfing, the ‘Vodafone Happy Hour’ (held daily throughout the event) kept the entertaining ongoing as kids competed in games to win some great prizes. The Under-16 boy’s heats were put ON-HOLD and are expected to start tomorrow from 8:00am