Worlock: Queen of the Surf 2005
4 July 2005
Competing in wet weather and stormy two-metre surf at Bay Beach, defending champion Jenna Worlock was crowned Vodacom Queen of the Surf at Durban's Vodacom Beach Africa on Sunday.
Olympic swimming gold medallist Ryk Neethling was on hand to show his support by awarding the prizes.
"I was really impressed by the girls and how they braved the conditions. I have a lot of respect for them. I had a great day. Vodacom Beach Africa is a great thing to do during the winter," Neethling said after spending most of the day observing the Vodacom Queen of the Surf, as well as enjoying a helicopter flip courtesy of the Vodacom Surf Rescue Crew.
Stiff competition
Providing Worlock with stiff competition was supremely talented swimmer Kendal Artz, who scooped second place. Michelle Eder impressed with a sensational victory in the first race of the day to finish third overall, with Stacey Bowley in fourth and Niki Mocke in
fifth.
"Considering the conditions today all the girls did really well. It's good to have Vodacom on board and its encouraging to see so many women in a male-dominated sport, because more and more girls are realising that we can do events like this too," said Worlock, who was thrilled to walk away with the lion's share of the R15 000 prize purse.
The country's fittest women competed over two days in four separate races for the honours, with the top three out of their four results counting towards the crowning of the champion.
National Surf Lifesaver Worlock has won 20 individual Queen of the Surf event titles and two series titles, as well as being named the fittest woman in the world in 2003.
First race
The first race of the day saw Worlock leading the kneeboard leg. However, on her way out to backline during the surfski leg she took a gamble by not pausing at the end of the pier and was hit by two huge waves which ripped her
out of the surfski, forcing her to swim to shore to retrieve it.
That setback relegated Worlock to seventh place. Meanwhile, Michelle Eder, Kendal Artz, and Kim Brugmann played their cards right, opting to wait at the end of the pier for a break in the surf.
Eder emerged triumphant from the surfski leg and held the lead going into the swim to finish in a comfortable first position. Artz took second, Brugmann third, Stacey Bowley fourth and Nikki Mocke fifth. It was the first time Worlock had lost a Queen of the Surf race in two years.
However, she bounced back to dominate the final race of the day, with Bowley and Artz following in second and third.
'Great to see the improvement'
"The conditions were really tough today and the girls showed that they are world class competitors. It's really great to see the improvement from four years ago, when realistically only three girls would have made it out in this surf," said Kelly
Anderson, Vodacom Queen of the Surf event organiser.
Emphasising just how tough the conditions were, she admitted that it had been considered to cancel Sunday's races due to the dangers of breaking equipment in the rough surf.
Vodacom Queen of the Surf is the only event of its kind in South Africa. The series, which is into its fourth year, showcases the skill, fitness and determination of the country's top 15 surf iron-women.
Competitors battle it out in four gruelling disciplines, namely surf swimming, surfski paddling, kneeboard paddling and soft sand running, which interlinks the other three disciplines.
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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