Dozens of young surfers hit the swell at Albany Boardriders’ Junior Wavefest where Williams and Simmons shine

Young stars Alaia Williams and Kalgan Simmons have emerged with Junior Wavefest titles after a successful day at the Albany Boardriders’ event held on the waves at Middleton Beach this year.

Middleton Beach was buzzing on Saturday as young surfers paddled out for the Boardriders’ annual Junior Wavefest, delivering plenty of stand-out rides and competitive spirit across the divisions.

The event saw strong performances from up-and-coming groms with winners showing confidence and control in clean, consistent conditions.

In the under-18 girls Alaia Williams came in first followed by Annabelle Reddingtion and Ava Pursey in third.

Kalgan Simmons, took the win for the under-18 boys with Jethro Simmons second and Jarrah Anderson third.

In the push category, Jasper Coumans took top honours ahead of Vali Sowter in second and Willow Abrahams in third.

River Anderson claimed victory in the Rookie division, while Jumi Gorman placed second and Coumans added another podium finish in third.

Abrahams dominated the under 12 girls backing up her push-In result with a well earned win, with Evie Newbold second and Marli Newbold in third.

Elijah Bresanello was dominant in the under 14 boys taking the win over Jarrod Shuttleworth and Lucas Hatcher, while Ivy Guilfoyle produced a strong performance to win the under-14 girls ahead of Azalea Gorman and Sophie Small.

Pearl Anderson impressed the under -16s girls to finish first with Bille Wheeler and Lola Cekereval not far behind.

Oscar Williams took out the under-16 boys with Lewin Marshall coming second and Zavier Small coming in third.

Competition director David Beeck said it was the first time the event was held at Middleton Beach with the artificial surf reef providing good waves for the groms.

“It was the first time we held the competition at Middleton and with the reef we got really good waves for the kids,” he said.

“We ended up surfing the beach on the inside of the reef and it produced really good waves and we had two peaks going on.

“So we had the younger kids towards Ellen Cove a little bit and the older kids in front of the reef.”

Beeck said due to the town location, this years competition had a record-breaking number of participants and spectators.

“We had a record number of 67 competitors . . . and because it was in town you didn’t need four-wheel-drive access so we had a lot of people there who were just interested to see what was going on,” he said.

“Most of those kids competed in two divisions and we had at least 12 hours of surfing to get through and there’s only nine hours of daylight so that why we had to run two peaks to get through all the heats.”

Beeck said it was great to see the kids so eager to get out in the surf with many returning to the beach the next day.

“It was an awesome day and we are really with lots of positive feedback from everyone,” he said.

“I think even the next day on Sunday when the wind dropped off, Middleton was mobbed by a bunch of grommets again.”