Quiksilver announced today that it will sponsor a top level surfing event based at Kirra, on the Australian Gold Coast, from March next year.
The 2001 event, with proposed dates of March 8-18, will be a five-star rated World Qualifying Series (WQS) contest carrying US$80,000 prize money. It will then upgrade to full World Championship Tour (WCT) status from 2002, with a US$250,000 purse. The 2001 event will also incorporate the four-star rated Quiksilver Roxy Pro for women.
Quiksilver’s decision to sponsor the Queensland event has been widely welcomed by the professional surfing community.
The 2000 world champion-elect Sunny Garcia, who is also president of the World Professional Surfers group, said today he would definitely be competing in the Quiksilver WQS event on the Gold Coast in March.
Speaking from his Kauai, Hawaii, home, Garcia said: ‘Personally I would like to thank Quiksilver for stepping up to the plate and being a major supporter of the sport of surfing.
‘As far as Kirra is concerned, I know that 100 per cent of the surfers are really stoked that we have an event there and that Quiksilver has picked it up. Even though it’s a WQS event next year, I’m really happy it’s on. Quiksilver has my support, that’s for sure.’
Kieren Perrow, the WQS representative on the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) board, said the surfers really wanted to keep the WCT event on the Gold Coast. ‘We were very happy to find out that it can be run as a WCT again in 2002. In the meantime, it’s a great thing for the WQS to have another quality wave location next year.
‘We were prepared to take on the license ourselves but it was definitely one of the positive points of the ASP Annual General Meeting here in Hawaii earlier this week to learn that Quiksilver was going to step up and take the plunge,’ Perrow said.
The president of the ASP, Wayne ‘Rabbit’ Bartholomew, said it was clear at the AGM that the surfers were upset about not having a major event on the Gold Coast counting towards the world title. ‘They urged the board to rectify the situation and Quiksilver responded to that spirit by proposing a major WQS event for 2001 followed by a commitment to a WCT permanently housed on the Gold Coast.
‘That proved to be a very positively received initiative right across the board. Under that formula, the WQS will be a one-off, which is excellent for the young Aussie chargers aspiring to qualify for the WCT. The realization of a new WCT on the Gold Coast, as the first event in Australia, gives the tour a fantastic global balance.’
The marketing director of Quiksilver Australia, Craig Stevenson, said Quiksilver was ecstatic to be given the opportunity to showcase the best surfers in the world on the Gold Coast, one of the best surfing locations in the world.
‘We plan to base the event at Kirra and be mobile to include Burleigh Heads and the beach breaks,’ he said. ‘And as a WQS event next year it is going to attract a top-class field as many of the world’s leading professional surfers have told us they will be competing.’
Meanwhile, Quiksilver also announced that it will take the prestigious Quiksilver Pro to G-Land, East Java, Indonesia, in May next year as part of the World Championship Tour. The event has been held at Cloudbreak, Fiji, for the past two years and hasn’t been held at G-Land since 1997, when Australian Luke Egan won in perfect eight foot barrels at Speedies.
And Quiksilver has created a new event, the Roxy Surf Jam, which will be a World Championship Tour event for women with US$60,000 prize money, and based on the Fijian islands of Tavarua and Namotu. Cloudbreak will be the main surfing venue.
For further information, please contact Quiksilver International Media Manager, Kirk Willcox, on:> kirk.willcox@quiksilver.com.au