Corlette teenager Elle Clayton-Brown has secured her spot in Surfest’s top women’s event after claiming a wildcard at the Port Stephens trials on Saturday.
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In front of a home crowd, the 17 year old surfer put on an impressive show at Birubi Beach to win the Port Stephens Toyota Surfest Wildcard Trials’ open women’s event.
Clayton-Brown, who took out the 2017 Billabong Oz Grom Cup, said the win was the result of a targeted campaign.
“I’ve been trying to win the wildcard for a couple of years so I’m really happy to get it,” she said.
“I will go to Merewether [for Surfest] prepared and am looking to put in a good performance.”
Saturday’s win has earned the rising star entry into the 6000 point-rated Holmes Civil Developments Women’s Pro, to be staged at Merewether Beach as part of Surfest on March 11 to 15 by 48 surfers.
A total of 76 surfers contested the Port Stephens trials on February 2 at Birubi Beach hoping to secure wildcard entries into a range of Surfest events.
Conditions varied throughout the day, with early morning heats providing challenging waves in the four to six foot range courtesy of a new swell fanned by cross shore winds, while later heats saw good conditions as the wind backed off and the swell settled.
Twenty-four surfers – including former and current World Surf League qualifying series competitors – sought a coveted wildcard into next month’s 6000 point Burton Automotive Pro.
Liam Mortenson from Avalon won the final after a count-back, squeezing out James McMoreland from Caves Beach.
The 22 year old, whose best win to date was a 1500 point QS in Japan in 2017, hopes this win will give him the boost he needs to get his competitive aspirations back on track.
“I missed a lot of QS events last year through injury so this is a big comeback for me. I’m going to give the Burton Pro a real crack and hopefully this will set me up for a strong 2019 on the QS,” Mortenson said
Wildcards into the Lake Mac City Pro Junior Men’s were won by Corlette’s Mike Clayton-Brown, 16, and Sasha Baker, 17, from Mudjimba on the Sunshine Coast.
The Lake Mac City Pro Junior will be contested on February 9 and 10 at Redhead beach.
Divisional winners into the Sanbah Cadet Cup – slotted for the weekend of March 9 and 10 at Merewether Beach – were also determined at Birubi Beach and included Jordan Liackman (Caves Beach) in under-16 boys, Ellie Lambkin (Merewether) in under-16 girls and Xavier Bruce (Warriewood) in under-14 boys.
There was no shortage of Port hopefuls in Saturday’s wildcard contest.
In addition to the Clayton-Brown siblings, Josh Stretton competed in the open men’s and pro junior divisions and Jasmine Sampson squared off in the open women’s competition.
Isaac Sullivan led the charge in the boy’s 16 years and under division of the of the Sanbah Cadet Cup while Jimmi Hill wore the contest singlet in the boy’s 14 years’ competition.