The Margaret River Boardriders Club has captured a nail biting victory at the third stop of the Hyundai Australian Boardriders Battle, overcoming rivals Yallingup and Trigg Point in a thrilling final at Scarborough Beach over the weekend.
Now in its ninth season, the Battle is the country's biggest grassroots boardriders event, involving more than 60 of Australia's best clubs and offering $112,700 in prize money.
Competing clubs nominate squads of six surfers - three male surfers, one female surfer, one over-35 master surfer (male or female), and one under-18 junior (male or female) to compete.
The win marks the Margaret River club's sixth since the series began, and sees them qualify for the National Final, scheduled to be held in Newcastle in 2022, where they'll take on the country's leading boardriding clubs.
In clean and consistent two foot peaks, Margaret River's Alex McGuffin, Voltaire Takahashi, Mia McCarthy, Jack Mitchell, Solomon Pogue-Englert and Andrew Sheridan were able to amass a winning total, despite a late points penalty that only added to the drama and excitement of the event.
Margaret River impressed throughout the 60-minute final, with each surfers best two scores added together for a team total of 52.50, with variety of spectacular top turns, carves and snaps going down.
However, their total was reduce to 47.50 after losing five points for catching an additional wave.
"It's always been a goal of the Margaret River Boardriders to win the National Final," said club captain Andrew Sheridan.
"We didn't qualify for the final last year so this win helps us on that journey. We look forward to catching up with all the surfing tribes from around the country."
Fellow finalists Yallingup and Trigg Point displayed plenty of brilliance throughout the day and challenged Margaret River at every opportunity, but ultimately they had to settle for second and third on 45.70 and 32.80 points respectively.
"Surfing is typically an individual sport so when you get the chance to compete as part of a team it creates this wave of support and camaraderie that is hard to replicate," said Surfing WA Events Manager Justin Majeks.
"It's a super exciting and dynamic format which provided edge of your seat entertainment."
Trigg Point Junior Boardriders provided plenty of highlights of their own, with Travis Barkhuizen capturing the Oakley Prizm Performer Awards for his stellar performance in the earlier rounds.
