THE Margaret River Wineries team won the SurfAid Cup on Sunday with a last-second ride in solid, six-foot (two metre) surf.
The MR Wineries scored 51.90 to narrowly defeat HSF aka the “Bar” Boys (51.80), with Macquarie WA third (42.67) and defending champions CineAds fourth (36.77). MadFish Wines and Grace Farm’s Finest finished equal 5th, while Caporn Young and Property Construction Nuts were equal 7th.
The eight teams raised $84,000 for humanitarian organisation SurfAid and Caporn Young (Jono Cullen, Todd Bennett, Jeremy Bower and Justin Wallace) won the fundraising trophy by collecting $17,500.
Held at Surfers Point, Margaret River, the SurfAid Cup is a tag-team style event with four surfers per team, plus one pro/legend from the selection pool. It is held in conjunction with the Drug Aware Margaret River Pro and supported by Surfing WA.
This year’s pro lineup included former two-time ASP world champion Tom Carroll, current ASP World Championship Tour surfers Travis Logie, Aritz Aranburu, CJ Hobgood and Adrian Buchan, plus locals Jake Paterson, Tom Innes and Luke Campbell.
The winning team - Brendan Carr (Xanadu Wines), Jarod Bawden (Stella Bella), Sam Castleden (Rosily Wines) and Adam Elton (Voyager Estate), plus local ripper Luke Campbell – won with five seconds to spare when Bawden caught the final wave to overtake HSF.
Margaret River Wineries team captain, Adam Elton, said the win was a combination of solid surfing and tactics.
“We are all really grateful to SurfAid and our employers to be able to be part of this event," he said.
"As surfers we are travellers by nature and remote destinations like the Mentawai Islands and Nias are often visited without knowing what life is like for the people on these islands."
“This event has allowed us to give back through fundraising and raising awareness in our local community in a way that really resonates with, and motivates, people. Now that we have achieved bragging rights for the next year we are keen to go back-to-back and achieve an even higher fundraising total.”
Top fundraisers Caporn Young had first pick of the pros and they chose Tom Carroll.
Team captain Justin Wallace said the SurfAid Cup is a truly unique experience.
“We love nothing more than combining our passion for surfing with the ability to give back to the less privileged,” he said.
SurfAid founder Dr Dave Jenkins said the organisation was overwhelmed by the support of the WA community, who have now raised $220,000 in three SurfAid Cups, and the pro surfers who donated their time and skills.
“Western Australia has a wonderful community spirit and the funds raised will help SurfAid deliver our Mother and Child Health programs in the remote islands of Indonesia,” Jenkins said.
In Australia, SurfAid Cups are also held in Sydney and Newcastle, and Malibu in California, USA.
