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ASB MAGAZINE: The World Surf League (WSL) announced the Sydney Surf Pro Challenger Series (CS) competition has been secured through 2024 and will move to the perfect peaks of North Narrabeen from 2023.
The new deal between the WSL, Destination NSW and the Northern Beaches Council will see the return of one of professional surfing’s most iconic locations in North Narrabeen. Home to legends such as Simon Anderson, Nathan Hedge, Laura Enever, Terry Fitzgerald, and Damien Hardman to name a few, the high-performance left-handers of North Narrabeen have hosted dozens of professional events over the last four decades. This new partnership will see it sit as an annual fixture on the WSL calendar for the first time in over 10 years.
“WSL is extremely proud to be returning to North Narrabeen and continuing this location’s strong lineage with professional surfing,” said WSL APAC General Manager, Andrew Stark. “Having held a one-off CT event at North Narrabeen earlier this year and seeing the incredibly positive response from the local community, not to mention from the world’s best surfers, it made total sense to put this location back on the schedule as an annual fixture and back on the world stage where it belongs. Locking this event in for the next three years is a massive achievement and we’d like to thank our hugely supportive partners at Destination NSW and The Northern Beaches Council. Without their support, important events like the Sydney Surf Pro wouldn’t happen.”
The Sydney Surf Pro has called Manly Beach home for over a decade and, with this move to North Narrabeen, the event will continue to display Sydney’s Northern Beaches in all their glory to WSL’s massive and engaged international fan base.
“The Championship Tour event earlier this year put North Narrabeen back on the global map of surfing,” said the Honourable Rob Stokes Member for Pittwater. “North Narrabeen is regarded as one of the best beach breaks in Australia and has always been a spiritual home for surfers so it’s only fitting to bring the Sydney Surf Pro to this beach. The benefits to the local economy will be extraordinary and not to mention the experience for the young up and coming surfers from the area having the world’s best back at their home beach.”
Caption: (L-R) The Honourable Rob Stokes, Member for Pittwater with Northern Beaches Mayor Michael Regan, 2x World surfing Champion and North Narrabeen Boardriders President Damien Hardman and local up and comer Kyla Whitfield at North Narrabeen for the exciting announcement this week.
Credit: WSL / Matt Dunbar
The event will see an international field of over 150 Challenger Series competitors descend on Sydney for over a week as they battle it out for a spot on the elite Championship Tour. The influx of competitors and support staff will see a huge economic boost to the Northern Beaches area in the month of May, much to the delight of Northern Beaches Mayor Michael Regan.
“We are thrilled to continue to host this fantastic event here on the Northern Beaches following the successful Championship Tour event in April,” Regan said. “It gives locals the chance to see their international surfing heroes competing while our spectacular area is beamed to an international audience. It’ll also be an additional leg up to local businesses who have had a shocking few years thanks to COVID.”
The 2022 Sydney Surf Pro Challenger Series event will run at Manly beach from May 17 – 24, 2022. Dates for the 2023 and 2024 events will be announced with the entire competition calendar later in 2022.
For more information, please visit WorldSurfLeague.com.
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