Oackle Bloc Junior Challenge

O BLOC JUNIOR CHALLENGE MAY 27, 2007 – PADMA BEACH

Padma Beach just north of Kuta was the site of the inaugural Oakley BLOC Junior Challenge under 16 surf competition. The rising sun lit up the glassy faces of the solid 2-3 foot beach break, with some of the big sectioning closeouts creating long horizontal lines of blinding white foam. The conditions looked to be challenging. In that good open waves, required patience and knowledge of the break. All the grooms that were gathered around the registration table were just frothing to get into it. By starting time there was a record of 84 contestants signed up to compete from as far away as Sumbawa, Lombok, Nusa Lembongan and East Java.

The first of the 16 heats in Round 1 got off when MC Ribut Wahyudi blew the starting horn just before 8 am. The tide was just off the high and would be dropping until 1 pm, so there were good conditions for the most part especially for the older more experienced groms, giving them plenty of opportunities to impress the judges with hard snaps, floaters, cutbacks, and the occasional shot at an aerial. The surfing went on almost non-stop, with just a short break to give the crew and contestants some lunch. The afternoon low tide drew the wave size down but provided a bit more variety and less closeouts, so good wave knowledge seemed to be the pay off for advancing towards the final. As the afternoon sun played hide and seek, the field was finally narrowed down to the final four, one Joni Gautama, local boy Dewa Ardika from Kuta, One Anwar from Sumbawa, and Mahendra Saparagus from Nusa Lembongan. It was a hard battle to judge, as all the boys were busting out their biggest maneuvers and going all out to get the big scores, so by the time the final horn sounded it was really anybody’s guess who would be standing on the top spot on the podium.

  The boys waited anxiously in front of the podium while the judges tallied up the scores and the crowd gathered in front of them. Meanwhile, Oakley Technical Advisor Arrow Dunk had some words for the crowd, thanking them and the sponsors for supporting the event and informing everyone about the 2nd stop O BLOC Junior Challenge event at Padang Galak on the 24th of June. ”I’m blown away by the amount of talent all these kids have and most of them are without sponsors. They surf because they love to surf, which is great for the sport in Bali. I hope to see one of these kids make it as a world champion some day they have the talent they have the drive, now all the need is the backing and as more companies in Indonesia get behind these kids it is only a matter of time.” As ISC CEO Tipi Jabrik arrived with the results, the boys stood up straight to receive the news. Taking fourth place was Mahendra Sasparagus, third was One Anwar, second was Dewa Artika, and the winner was Joni Gautama, who with a big smile on his face and his hands full of goodies from all the sponsors, managed to say, “Thank you Oakley and to everyone, thank you very much,” into the microphone from the top spot on the podium.

Results:
Joni Gautama – East Java
I Dewa Made Ardika – Kuta-Bali
One Anwar – Sumbawa
Wayan Mahendra Sasparagus– Nusa Lembongan
surfing finalist

The O BLOC Junior Challenge 2007 is the first Under 16 junior competition series to be held by Oakley in Indonesia, and is sanctioned by the Indonesian Championship Series (ISC). For each event in the series, and for the other ISC sanctioned junior events, the contestants are given points that will be added up at the end of the season and the groom with the most points will be declared the ISC Junior Champion at the year-end ISC Awards Night.

The winners of the first two O BLOC Junior Challenge 2007 events receive prizes from Oakley and for the series final at Maharani Beach on the 19th of August the grand prize is Cash Money & Diverse Surf Board, Oakley eyewear and O Bloc line products, with the other finalists receiving Oakley eyewear and O Bloc Line products.

The O BLOC Junior Challenge 2007 is sponsored by
Green Sands, Extreme Toys, Telkomsel, Diverse, 69 Slam, Hard Rock Café, Soho, Odysseys Surf School, Surf Travel Online, Surf Time, Magic Wave, The Beat, GUS

(by oackle press release)