TAVARUA ISLAND, FIJI — The Third Annual Roxy Pro Fiji is only days away from commencing, and now celebrated the richest prize purse in the history of women’s surfing, $70,800. An Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour (WCT)
TAVARUA ISLAND, FIJI — The Third Annual Roxy Pro Fiji is only days away from commencing, and now celebrated the richest prize purse in the history of women’s surfing, $70,800.
An Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour (WCT) event, the Roxy Pro will showcase the best that the sport and lifestyle of surfing has to offer from April 27 to May 3.
Kaua’i’s Keala Kennelly and Rochelle Ballard will compete in the event, which is the second of six stops on the 2003 ASP WCT tour.
The Roxy Pro Fiji will also feature a special trials event that will offer four aspiring surfers the chance of a lifetime.
The Trials winner receives a wildcard into the main event and a share of the record prize purse.
Trialists include New Zealand’s Lisa Hurunui, California’s Veronica Kay, Caroline Sarran of France, and the fourth will be the winner of the MTV Surf Girls reality series premiering in the U.S. mid May.
The identity of the MTV finalist will be revealed upon the conclusion of the series.
Set on the pristine Fijian islands of Tavarua and Namotu, the Roxy Pro will feature 17 of the world’s top-ranked female surfers and the trials wildcard.
The skirting reefs of Tavarua and Namotu islands offer a variety of world-class waves.
From Tavarua’s barreling ‘Cloudbreak’, and rapid-fire ‘Restaurants’ – two 5-star left-handers, to Namotu’s high-performance Namotu Lefts, there are more great waves on offer for this event than could ever be ridden in competition.
The Roxy Pro, one of six WCT events that determine the 2003 women’s world surfing champion, will take place on the days when waves are best. The preferred venue is ‘Cloudbreak’ – a mid-ocean reef break two kilometers south of Tavarua Island.
Cloudbreak is a world-class left-breaking wave that barrels off across a shallow submerged reef. Competitors ride from a steep take-off, through a tubing section and complete their rides on an open-faced shoulder that marks the end of the wave: a total distance of approximately 100 meters.
All of this takes place a stone’s throw away from a panel of world-class judges who are situated on a tower mounted upon the shallowest part of the reef.
But as was the case in 2002, the event can relocate to the best waves available between Tavarua and Namotu.
Roxy continues to lead the way in women’s professional surfing this year, sponsoring three of ASP’s six World Championship Tour events. The first opened up the 2003 women’s world title battle on Australia’s Gold Coast – the Roxy Pro in Queensland, which was held from March 4-16.
Next will be the Roxy Pro in Fiji, and the third is the Roxy Pro in France, to be held in the south-west of France from Sept. 30 to Oct. 11.
Five-time world champion and current ratings leader Layne Beachley (Aus), who won the opening Roxy Pro on Australia’s Gold Coast, offered the following comments during the lead up to Fiji:
“The fact that Roxy sponsors three of our six events on our tour calendar clearly illustrates their commitment to the development of women’s surfing. Now they have furthered their supportive stance by creating the largest prize purse in the history of women’s surfing.
“Tavarua and its surrounding islands and reef breaks create a perfect environment for a stand alone women’s event and it is a location that we all look forward to visiting,” she added.
“The standard of surfing is always heightened in the perfect reeling lefthanders Fiji offers. I am looking forward to the challenges that I will be confronted with, especially by the goofy-footers who seem to have the advantage. Tropical paradise, here we come.”
