Professional surfers from all over Queensland will get the opportunity to stoke their competitive flame this weekend at the first leg of the 2020 Australian Open of Surfing series, which kicks off this Saturday on the Sunshine Coast and will run over two days. The series will provide professional and aspiring surfers with the opportunity to win $5,000 in prize money and gain momentum going into 2021.
Professional surfer Liam O’Brien (Burleigh Heads, QLD) is looking forward to getting into a competition rash-shirt once again, after a long period of no events being run.
“It’s unreal to have something to look forward to again,” said O’Brien. “It’ll be nice to have something to work toward; something to put our training into practice. It can be hard to get motivated when there’s nothing that we’re training for – the most exciting part is getting motivated again.”
“I always loved the open format of surfing, like the Queensland Championship Circuit in the past. It’ll be fun to compete for the love of it.”
Surfing Queensland CEO Adam Yates is proud to be hosting the event in Queensland.
“We’re incredibly excited to be a part of this series, and can’t wait to see the level of surfing brought out on the weekend,” said Yates. “The Australian Open of Surfing series is an exciting platform for both professional and grassroots surfers to compete alongside each other in some of Australia’s top surfing locations, and we’re stoked to be part of a series that has so much future potential.”
Former professional surfer and current coach to several professional surfers, Jay “Bottle” Thompson, emphasised the importance of a series like this for surfers to keep their competitive skills intact.
“This is a great initiative moving forward for the high-performance surfers of Australia,” said Thompson. “These times have definitely been challenging for athletes from a coach’s perspective; working to keep our athletes motivated while there are no events to prepare for. It’s incredibly important to keep Australian surfing talent motivated and focused during this time.”
2020 Australian Open of Surfing Series Schedule:
Sunshine Coast, QLD – 19th – 20th September 2020
Gold Coast, QLD – 31st October – 1st November 2020
Cronulla – 8th-9th November 2020
Kiama – 22nd – 23rd November 2020
Coffs Harbour – 29th – 30th November 2020
Northern Beaches – 13th – 14th December 2020
All events will adhere to all COVID-19 policies and regulations outlined by the Queensland Government and council protocols.
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The 2020 Australian Open of Surfing is proudly supported by The Sunshine Coast Council and Visit Sunshine Coast, official destination partners of the event, Coastalwatch Plus, Surfing World Magazine, H2Coco, The Queensland Government and Surfing Queensland.
