Courtney Conlogue prevails in Round 1 of the Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic
An impressive performance by America’s Courtney Conlogue allowed her to walk away with top honours from the sixth heat of the Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic’s Round 1 that went down at the Dee Why point in Sydney, Australia, on Thursday, April 19.
The American surfer advanced through directly into the third round of the event following her victory in Round 1. Australia’s Rebecca Woods finished in second place, while New Zealand’s Paige Hareb was forced to settle for third place. The failure to finish
first led to the relegation of both the surfers into the second round.
With tricky four-foot waves and winds prevailing at the primary event site on Thursday afternoon, the crowd hardly had any doubts about the heavy dose of thrilling action that the day had in store for them. The fourth of seven stops on the 2012 Association
of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Women’s World Title Series was playing host to the elite ASP Top 17,
Pitted against Woods and Hareb in the sixth heat of Round 1, Conlogue had a real tough battle at hand. While one of her rivals enjoyed the local knowledge of the waves as well as the support of the local crowd, the other one had just recently asserted her
formidable form at Rip Curl Women’s Pro in Taranaki, New Zealand.
Instead of succumbing to the pressure, Conlogue decided to use it as a motivation to push herself even harder. As the heat start, the American surfer went through a series of average scores before locking her first business-wave to unload a string of exquisite
tricks, earning an 8.00 point for the effort.
In the final minutes of the heat, Conlogue added an additional 6.00 points to her account to move to a heat-total of 14.00 points. The score held up until the end to seal the fate of the triple-threat heat in her favour.
Woods failed to make the most of her familiarity with the waves, scoring a 6.50 off her first business-wave and backing it up with an additional 5.85-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 12.35 points.
Hareb finished in last place after scoring a heat-total of 8.75 points, which included a 3.60 and 5.15-point ride.
Both Woods and Hareb headed into the second round to surf again for the Round 3 spot.
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