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Gold Coast surfers Mitchell Parkinson (Coolangatta) and
Eden Putland (Currumbin) have emerged as the future stars of the sport after taking
out the blue ribbon divisions at the Surfing Queensland Micro Grom Comp today.
In its inaugural year, the grommet inspired event showcased
the best cross selection of surfing youngsters that the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast
and Northern NSW had to offer. With over sixty surfers
fighting it out for loads of cool prizes along with kudos as Queensland’s
premier micro-grommet, it was Deane and Putland who made the most of the 3ft waves
on offer at Miami Beach. 
11-year-old Parkinson (10.57) utilised a smooth and fluid
approach to snap up a last minute victory over Noa Deane (10.00, Coolangatta),
Hayden Welch (9.13, Currumbin) and Nic Jones (8.76, Buderim) in the under 14 boy’s
final. Patiently waiting for the set waves, the compact
natural footer notched up a final minute scorcher, an impressive 5.07 ride to
overtake Deane, who held the lead throughout most of the twenty-minute final.
Mitchell capped off a great event by claiming a customised
shooter courtesy of Matt Hurworth Shapes, for the event’s highest individual
wave score, a scintillating 9.33 ride scored in his round 1 heat. Putland,
12, who started surfing in a learn-to-surf program as an 8-year-old, easily defeated
Maddy Dunn (Dicky Beach) and Stephanie Single (Lennox Head) to snap up her second
ever surfing title in the under 14 girl’s division. The
Currumbin Beach resident has been in fine form over the summer school holidays,
claiming a third placing in the Rip Curl Grom Search in late December ’06
as well as winning the prestigious under 12 girl’s division at the South
Coast Foam event in ’06. Sunshine Beach surfer
Blaine Robinson surfaced as a major contender in junior events by taking out the
under 12 boy’s division, while Renee Heazlewood (Moffat Beach) ran away with
under 12 girl’s final. The ‘mini-groms’
of the surfing world showed great courage in the hard-hitting waves, with Laura
Poncini (Moffat Beach) claiming a win in the under 10 girl’s final and Zac
Wightman in the under 10 boy’s. Kingscliff super-grom
Dexter Muskens was victorious in the under 8 boy’s division. The
two-day midweek tournament ran from Tuesday 16th January to Wednesday 17th January
2007. Like all Surfing Queensland run events, a computer judging
system as used by the World Championship Tour (WCT) plus live ‘scoring’
commentary was utilised throughout the event. Contact
(07) 5520 1165 or alternatively www.surfingqueensland.com.au for event updates
Under 14 Girls 1st Eden
Putland (Currumbin)
2nd Maddy Dunn (Dicky Beach)
3rd Stephanie Single (Lennox
Head) Under 12 Boys 1st
Harry Bryant (Sunshine Beach)
2nd Blaine Robinson (Palm Beach)
3rd Nic Doran
(Caloundra)
4th Nathan Bell (Cabarita) Under
12 Girls 1st Renee Heazlewood (Moffat Beach)
2nd
Iluke Enright (Lennox Head)
3rd Mallika Dron (Coolangatta) Under
10 Boys 1st Zac Wightman (Lennox Head)
2nd Owen
Fredricks (Cabarita)
3rd Reef Heazlewood (Moffat Beach)
4th Dyland Totten
(Elanora) Under 10 Girls 1st
Laura Poncini (Moffat Beach)
2nd Kobie Enright (Tweed Heads)
3rd Ebony Wilson
(Varsity Lakes)
4th Alyssa Lock (Tweed Heads) Under
8 Boys 1st Dexter Muskens (Kingscliff)
2nd Flynn
McCarthy (Currumbin)
3rd Joseph Sandor (Palm Beach) | 
