The Margaret River Boardriders Club held their fourth competition of the year on Sunday, April 26. The morning started fresh with a small but consistent swell pumping into Surfers Point. After much deliberation Southside was the call.

The senior men were sent out first to sweet talk the crowd and after a 30-minute final it was Brad Cowan who claimed first place after ‘doing a Kelly Slater’ by getting an awesome wave in the last 30 seconds. In second was Glenn Knight and third Mick Shaw.

The Juniors’ Division was hotly contested with Sean Greene taking out the event from Jamie Lumsdaine. Jacob Wilcox third and Riley Holly, whose barrell in round one had the judges cheering, came fourth. It was the changing of the guard in the Open Division final with Matt Baldock winning from last years champ Dave Macaulay, followed bt Tom Innes third, Jarrad Davies close behind in fourth and Reed Lester in fifth.

Next Saturday, May 9 will be the final comp of of the 08/09 season. Things are very close across all divisions which means it will come down to the last comp to find out who will be club champ. Boardriders are to meet at the Rivermouth at 7.30am and the club will decide where to go from there. This will be followed by the AGM at 4pm at Lot 99 Georgette Way, Gracetown.

All current and future members, club sponsors and club affiliates are encouraged to attend.

The Margaret River Boardriders Club convincingly defeated the Trigg Point Boardriders at lefthanders on the weekend in a head to head tag team challenge. Trigg Point were invited down for the friendly competition on Saturday morning and were greeted by perfect 3ft conditions.

Captained by Andrew Sheridan the MRBC team of 10 surfers put in a strong performance across the board in the 2 hour long heat. Dino Adrian pulled off the highest score of the day with a 9.0 point ride awarded for a massive backside re-entry followed by a committed close-out floater.

The competition followed a similar format to the Jim Beam Tag Team series in which the MRBC placed equal 17^th recently in the national final held in Sydney. It is hoped that this challenge can become an annual event against Trigg and we thank the team for making the trip down.

The next Margaret River Boardriders Club Contest will be held on Sunday the 26^th April 2009 with members meeting at the Rivermouth Carpark at 7.30am. Any new members are welcome to join and compete on the day.

The club contest previously scheduled for Sunday 12th April had now been post-poned to Sunday 26th April 2009. All members (new & old) are to meet at the rivermouth carpark at 7.30am to decide on the best location to hold the contest. All new members are welcome to attend and join on the day.

Big swells saw the annual Margaret River Boardriders Retro Oz Day Comp moved from the Rivermouth to Boris’s at Gracetown where the waves were small but had great shape. Some classic old single fins as well as a couple of original twinfins were the pick of the craft, while some competitors had to ride an air matress or a plastic surf ski depending on the luck of the draw. Standout grommet was Shaun Manners riding a Murry Smith twin fin that his dad Mat had rode many years ago, throwing it around like he had ridden it forever.

Bill Gibson did a stand up on the wave ski which was only topped by the McCauley sisters riding tandem on the a super big single fin. Poor old Durls drew the air mattress, but he does his best work laying down. Paul Thompson executed some classic turns to get the highest wave score of the day and a grab rail toes over took us all back to the seventies.

The final was surfed in the true spirit of Australia day with a lot of burning going on and not from the sun. Rohan “singe” Annesley out paddled the pack while the tandem twins and Thommo fried Scotto like a sausage on his two best waves. All of this was to no avail though because Matt “two fins ” Manners found a few peaks to himself which he carved up like a lamb roast, taking the original MR twinny to the outer limits of utmost fun.

Holding the trophy aloft with a grin like a split watermelon Matty reckoned it was the best day on the club calendar.

The Margaret River Boardriders held their first event for the year in glassy 2-3ft conditions at Lefthanders on Sunday the 11^th January 2009. A light north easterly wind maintained perfect left and handers all day allowing competitors across all divisions to put on an excellent display.

Results for the compeititon were – Open Division: 1^st Matt Manners, 2^nd Dave Macaulay, 3^rd Brett Hardy, 4^th Matt Baldock. Junior Division: 1^st Creed McTaggart, 2^nd Matt Baldock, 3^rd Jethro Hedstrom, 4^th Shaun Manners. Senior Mens Division: 1^st Russell Ord, 2^nd John McTaggart, 3^rd Brad Cowan, 4^th Glen Knight.

An impressive effort has also been put in by the Macaulay girls, Laura, Ellie and Bronte who have been competing in the Junior Boys Division for more competition.   The MRBC would also like to thank all the surfers in the water around the competition on the day allowing competitors to get plenty of waves.

The next event is likely to be huge with the annual Australia Day Competition to be held at the Rivermouth from 8.00am on Monday 26^th January. All past, current and interested members are encouraged to attend and bring any form of alternative ocean craft to enter in the novelty event.  A BBQ will be provided for all members and their families with prizes awarded at the end of the day.

There are a further 4 events to be held this year .

The Margaret River Boardriders are up and running with a new look management team that was voted in at the Annual General Meeting held on the 18^th of November. The new president is Chad Elton who was quoted saying “ he wants to see the boardriders head back to it’s grass roots with monthly Sunday comps and the odd teams event.” Chad is also excited that the 30^th Margaret River Classic is during his presidential year. Chad is supported by local Photog Russell Ord as Vice president, Kristin Innes as Treasurer, Glen Knight as secretary and Mike McCauliffe, Dave Englert, Andrew Sheridan and Brad Cowan as committee members and Scott Holley as contest director.

 To get the ball rolling the Boardriders are holding a winner takes all comp for all divisions on Sunday December 14^th meeting at the rivermouth at 7:30 am.

 With the event being mobile and having the chance to put your name on the winners trophy competition should be hot.

Everybody is welcome to come along and join the Margaret River Boardriders and enter the event.

Congratulations go out to all the competitors in the Australian Junior Surfing Titles, it was great to see the next generation of Australia’s elite surfers charging Surfer’s Point.