SURFING NEWS - Willard Beach in Ballito, KwaZulu-Natal will host the Ballito Pro Surf Festival, presented by Billabong, from June 27 to July 9.
The World Surf League’s top-ranked performers will be joined by the cream of South Africa’s men, women and junior surfers for the 14-day festival.
It’s the ninth successive year the region will host the event, which is World Qualifying Series 10 000 rated and has a prize-pool of R3.4 million.
Women and juniors will also be in action.
The 49th edition of the world’s longest-running professional surfing event will be bigger and better than ever in 2017 as it again welcomes the support of global apparel and equipment giant Billabong, which is celebrating the 20th annual running of its acclaimed Billabong Junior Series this year.
“Billabong is honoured to continue our relationship with KwaDukuza,” says Chad D’Arcy, group marketing and sales manager for Billabong South Africa.
The 2016 field included a dozen of the world’s elite WSL Championship Tour (CT) surfers and was won by Connor O’Leary (Australia), who, along with runner-up Joan Duru (France), Ezekiel Lau (Hawaii), Jeremy Flores (France) and Australians Ethan Ewing and Jack Freestone, all went on to qualify for the prestigious 2017 CT, thanks to the significant number of ranking points they earned in Ballito.
