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The
Rip Curl Kirra Teams Challenge was today won by Northern NSW Boardriding Club
“Le – Ba” - Short for Lennox Head /Ballina – a strip of surf
rich coastline on Northern NSW incorporating numerous excellent reef, point and
beach breaks along with a groyne wall break across an approximate 10 klm stretch
of coastline. 
It was the 23rd year of the Rip Curl Kirra Teams Challenge
and today’s win was described by Kirra Boardriders event co coordinator John
Robin as the strongest ever victory in the events history. “Le-Ba’s
win includes 7 heat wins and a 3rd placing across their required 8 surfer team
and 7 wins is unprecedented at this event. It’s been an awesome performance
from this club and it will be a record high score of 30 points that will stand
and be very hard to beat.” 
It was Le-Ba’s first win in the event and comes on the
back of close neighboring club Byron Bay who took the title last year!
Le Ba fielded a strong and well balanced team opening with
elite Pro Junior surfer and former World Junior Champion James Wood who set the
scene for the win last Friday when he posted the highest scoring heat win of the
event. Wood’s heat win included the events only perfect 10 point ride along
with a 7.5 to give him the events highest heat tally of 17.5. His team mates continued
the winning run through and then relied on their final surfer Adam Melling (Lennox
Head) to secure the win. 
The pressure was immense on Melling with Le Ba leading the
38 strong field but only by one point over event favourites Snapper Rocks (Gold
Coast Qld) and Curl Curl (Nth Sydney Beaches). Melling
needed to win to put the overall win out of Snapper and Curl Curl’s reach,
a second placing would leave the title open to a possible surf off and a third
or fourth placing would leave the door wide open for Snapper or Curl Curl to take
the win outright! Adding further to the pressure on
Melling was the strongest heat opposition of the event! – Brazilian World
Qualifying Surfer Thiago Pires now resident in Sydney along with Sunshine Coast
rising star Mitch Coleborn were drawn in this same heat. After
a slow start to the heat by Melling which saw him in last place after 7 minutes,
Mellings patience paid off, he found a good larger wave and exploded through three
sections executing massive bottom to top turn combinations and scored an excellent
8.83 to go straight to the lead. At the 12 minute mark he backed that score up
with another incredibly powerful required second scoring 8.5 ride which put him
way ahead of his rivals and secured the heat and overall event win for Le –
Ba. Melling’s heat tally of 17.33 was the second
highest of the event behind team mate James Wood, highlighting the dominance of
the Le – Ba team at this event. “That win
was certainly the best of my life. I knew I had the opportunity to win for the
entire club and I knew the heat was hard with Coleborn and Pires so I was really
nervous but once I scored that excellent first ride I started to feel good and
with all the club members cheering me on off the rocks I could feel the win coming
my way – It’s a great feeling, normally we only surf for ourselves in
events but this is for the club where we all start competing and it means a lot
to us – I’m relieved!” Club President
and former Open and Junior club champion Rod Steeles commented on the win by saying
“Biggest club win ever for us. This is the big one where all of Australia’s
top clubs gather and to win this is special. I’m proud of the entire team
and the whole club who have supported them – all these surfers are home grown
from the Ballina Shire and we’ve taken the number one trophy – It feels
great!” Team members went wild on the
beach which is typical of the passion from Boardriding Clubs who take out Australasia’s
most prestigious title and they gathered on the shoreline to chair their final
surfer from the water knowing the Rip Curl Kirra Teams title was theirs for 2007!
Team Members from Le – Ba included – James Wood,
Jock Barnes, Marcus Aboody, Stuart Kennedy, Joe Hudson, Dan Emery, Mark Hernage
and Adam Melling. Final Team Placing’s –
Top Ten all prestigious placings in the 38 National field: Le
– Ba
North End Gold Coast
Curl Curl – Sydney Nth Beaches
Snapper
Rocks Gold Coast
Kirra – Gold Coast
Coolum – Sunshine Coast
Alley – Gold Coast
Cabarita – Nth NSW Tweed Coast
Byron
Bay
Noosa | 
