The Morning Of The Mo surf contest celebrates a time when the shorts where tight, Mo’s were thick and the surfing was smooth. Competitors battle it out under the guise of an alter ego in one part surf contest one part dance off. Eleven years ago Travis Garone and Luke Slattery coined the idea after a few beers at a Melbourne watering hole. The pair were working in the skate and surf industry and thought it was about time to bring back the Mo and importantly raise money for Men’s health. The Mo was rebooted and Movember was born.
Tracks spoke to co-creater Travis Garone from Melbourne this week.
If it didn’t happen then it’s not happening now. Image courtesty Movember
Q. How did you come up with Movember?
My friend Luke Slattery and I had a love for skateboarding and surfing and were working in the industry. One night after a skate we had a few beers we started talking about trends and things that make a comeback every few years. I had the full beard well before all the trendy kids had it and we had a mutual friend who had a Mo we were just pissing ourselves about the mo this guy was rocking.
Luke asked me if I’d ever grown a mo and I said oh no I’ve never done it so we started talking about trends and things that sort of come back every few years. So we thought well what do you recon, do you want to grow a Mo? I thought fuck yeah why not and so a few beers later we put some context down to what we wanted to do which was a gentlemen’s agreement to see who could grow the best Mo in four weeks.
Q. Tell me about the fundraising aspect?
We wanted to raise money for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer because no one knew what it was back then. We’d all grown up with dodgy charities and we didn’t want to be like that. We didn’t want it to be a boring government initiative we wanted to treat the event like the Quiky Pro or any other surf or skate event we were working on. We wanted it to be fun.
Q. How did the Morning Of The Mo surf contest evolve?
I was working for Quiksilver and have a good friend in Ballina called Nat Johnson. I was talking to him about it one day and he said, why don’t we just do a surf comp? Why don’t we do a Morning of the Mo themed contest? We wanted to be super respectful to all the Morning of the Earth guys, Alby Falzon specifically. So we got in contact with Alby and ran past what we wanted to do and he gave the event his blessing. We wanted to pay homage to those guys and bring it to the modern world.
Mo sista Stephanie Gilmore has been a regular fixture at the annual Morning Of The Mo. Photo by Movember
Q. Have you noticed that the event has helped get the conversation going for men’s health?
I think very much so, it’s been unbelievable. I think it helped because we came from a legitimate surf background. We have had help from Quiksilver and the old school guys like Tom Carroll, MR and Matt Hoy to Steph Gilmore and Craig Anderson have all got behind it and supported the event. It allowed us to be a voice on the beach.
We thought if we could take a Movember event to these guys in Ballina and Lennox, be legitimate and help spread awareness about men’s health then we’re going to have a good go at reaching these parts of Australia that traditionally the cities don’t get to.
Q. What are the criteria to win the Morning Of The Mo?
We break it into two categories, there’s the surfing event and then there’s the night event, which is the dance off. Winning the surf event is only part of the deal. To win the overall event you have to come in character at seven am and hold that character right through by surfing in costume and head to the Lennox Hotel for the after party and dance off. It’s the one who has held that character for the entire day. We wanted to make sure that is more than just a core surf event.
Q. Talk me through the boards people will be riding?
It’s either got to be a single fin or a twin fin. Pre ’80s surf craft and no leg rope at all. We’re actually shitting ourselves for the day Lennox Point is actually working and we’ve got to paddle out, that might be the day that we have to change the rules.
Morning Of The Mo isn’t all about the surfing, a pair of Mo fashionistas strut their stuff in Ballina. Photo by Movember
Q. There must have been some alter egos over the years?
We really encourage the alter egos. We’ve had Tommy Peterson judging in previous years and it’s always below the lip maneuvers that get the score. But if you hold your character from morning right through to the dance of in the evening that’s when you’ll win Morning Of The Mo. Over the years we have had Bob Moley, Bunker, Hulk Mogan, MP’s lookalikes, lots of short shorts, fluro and zinc.
Q. For the unenlightened out there tell us what is so good about having a Mo?
From a Movember perspective the mustache is the catalyst for conversation. A Movember mustache is something that will break the ice and may lead to a more in depth conversation to what is going on health wise. Deep down every bloke is a bit of a larrikin and growing a Mo gets him to be an individual and stand out from the pack.
Q. Anything else you’d like to add?
This is the first year we’ve raised money for testicular cancer. Prior to that it’s been towards prostate cancer research and Beyond Blue. We’re trying to turn a big ship around and get to the point where maybe one-day men can live with cancer and mental health issues. I want to see this money get spent and used effectively quickly.
You can support Movember and check out their cause at http://au.movember.com/
See more Morning Of The Mo past events and get involved at http://au.movember.com/events/morning-of-the-mo
