Merewether Surfboard Club fell agonisingly short of creating Australian Boardriders Battle history in a three-way, final wave finish as Byron Bay won their first national title on Sunday at Newcastle beach.
Looking to become the first club to win the event after having to start in the local wildcard trial, Merewether were sixth after Saturday's individual divisions, giving them direct passage into round two of the deciding tag team contest on Sunday.
Merewether won their round heat with a score of 32.79 to topple North Shore (31.74), North Shelly (21.7) and Burleigh Heads (19.59).
Former world No.5 Morgan Cibilic was the star for Merewether in the semi-final, earning a competition-best 9.43 with two vertical backhand hits to ice the win late. Their score of 34.49 edged out Byron Bay (34.26) but the visitors turned the tables in the decider. Snapper Rocks and Avoca progressed from the other semi to contest the $20,000-to-the-winner final.
Merewether looked down and out after a slow start, then a broken board for third surfer Mikey Clayton-Brown, which left them last and racing the clock at the halfway point. Clayton-Brown recovered to get a 4.08 before junior Ollie Ryssenbeek earned a 4.73 - a score which would have been far higher if not for a fall.
Still last, Merewether had women's surfer Philippa Anderson and Cibilic left with about 11 minutes remaining to get them in the mix.
Anderson was the hero, catching a gem on the inside and skirting with rocks at the finish to post an 8.88 and rocket her team into the lead on 27.75. However, Byron Bay (27.05), Snapper Rocks (26.91) and Avoca (23.58) were right on their hammer with one surfer each remaining.
The title came down to the last two minutes as power surfers Cibilic, Dakota Walters (Byron Bay), Sheldon Simkus (Snapper Rocks) and Lennox Chell (Avoca) searched for the right wave.
Chell ran out of time and Cibilic's choice offered little. He was able to carve out only a 2.38, while Simkus and Walters found better waves. Simkus got a 4.3 to put Snapper into the lead before Walters' score dropped. Needing a 4.17, Walters earned a 4.78 to give Byron Bay the title.
Walters was the star after also starting the final with a 9.35 from a backside reverse. Soli Bailey backed that up with an 8.30 to give them a flying start.
"I'm extremely proud," Byron Bay masters surfer Danny Wills said. "We're a tiny little town, we're a great surfing community and we had a great team, and I'm proud of them all. I'm bloody stoked."
Anderson was also proud of her side.
"We weren't in the draw on Friday night, so to win the trials and end up with a third is pretty damn good," she said. "We obviously wanted to win but the team did really well.
"This is what it's all about. We didn't give up, even in the semi we didn't have a good start and we came back and I guess that's just what Black and Blue do, so we're so happy.
"We had a broken board, we had a few falls and we still ended up third."
The final score was Byron Bay 31.83, Snapper Rocks 31.21, Merewether 30.13, Avoca 22.73.
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