Coolangatta’s Mitch Crews is riding high today after claiming the 17th annual Chiko Alley Classic in clean 1.5m waves at the event’s iconic home of Currumbin Alley.
Crews beat a field of high-performers including Luke Hynd (Burleigh Heads, QLD), Nick Vasicek (Coolangatta, QLD) and Dale Lovelock (Warana, QLD) to claim victory in the closely fought final.
“I’m so happy. I came second in the MP Classic the other week and I was pretty bummed about that, so it’s so good to do one better with a win here,” said an elated crews after the final.
For the win, he takes home a $3,000 dollar winner’s cheque and the ratings lead of the Queensland Championship Circuit (QCC), but is scheduled to head to Brazil for an Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Qualifying Series event.
“I don’t think I am going to be able to compete in the last two events of the series, but the first two have been such a great warm up for Brazil,” Crews continued.
Chiko MP Classic Champion, Mitch Parkinson (Snapper Rocks, QLD), was eliminated in the early rounds of today’s competition, which going into the third event on the Sunshine Coast, opens the series right up for competitors to take the QCC win.
Surfing Queensland takes the series north to the Sunshine Coast for the Chiko Sunshine Coast Pro, scheduled to start on the 25th May.
The 2013 QCC series boasts a stellar AUD$30,000 prize-pool, with an extra AUD$500 randomly awarded to four competitors who compete in all four events.
Based on competitors’ best three-of-four results, the series’ top two athletes will once again get the chance to compete against the world’s best surfers at the 2014 ASP World Championship Tour Quiksilver Pro Trials, Snapper Rocks.
To ensure the QCC‘s top two under 18 athletes are performing at their optimum for the Quiksilver Pro Trials, Surfing Queensland in conjunction with Surfing Australia will provide two-days of training at the world-class Hurley Surfing Australia High Performance Centre.
The QCC Series
CHIKO MP Classic: April 20-21 5-Star / $10,000
CHIKO Alley Classic: May 11-12 3-Star / $6,000
CHIKO Sunshine Coast Pro: May 25-26 3-Star / $6,000
CHIKO Burleigh Classic: June 15-16 4-Star / $8,000
