Jim Beam Boardriders Cup

The Jim Beam Boardriders Cup Australian Final is the Champion of Champions for Australia's Grass Roots surfers. Surfers at club level compete in their monthly Boardriding Club contests with each club's Open Surfing Division sponsored by Jim Beam. These monthly club events determine each club's Jim Beam Boardriders Cup Champion who qualifies thru to the Jim Beam Boardriders Cup Australian Final.

The JBBRC is a truly National competition with seventy Boardriding Club's from NSW, QLD, WA, VIC and SA all taking part in 2010/11. Each club's Jim Beam Boardriders Cup Champion receives $500 with the JBBRC Australian Champion winning $2,000 and a $500 Sanyo video camera.

The 2011 JBBRC Australian Final saw Bronte Boardriders Caleb Reid take the biggest win of his career in clean 1m (3 feet) surf at Avalon on Sydney’s northern beaches.

Reid defeated a quality field in the final with former World Tour surfer Nathan Webster (Nth Narrabeen) placing 2nd, and Gold Coast surfers Jay Phillips (Snapper Rocks) and Alex Chacon (Kirra) placing 3rd and 4th respectively.

“Such a great title to win” said Reid after the final.

“I felt like I was surfing for myself and for my club and that’s a special thing – the local Boardriders club is where it all starts for all surfers and I’m proud to win this title for the Bronte boys.”

Tactics played a big factor in Reid’s win. He chose to surf well south of the other three finalists and that decision saw him gifted with two good long peeling rides early in the final which scored him a 6.17 and a 6.93 and that total of 13.1 won him the event.

“As I was paddling out I sort of just decided to head south of the rest and surf that bank – it was the best decision I made all day!” added Reid.

Second placed Nathan Webster went perilously close to taking the final when he picked off a good wave with five minutes remaining, executing a very powerful and precise bottom to top turn but then grabbed a rail and uncharacteristically fell on a ride that looked set to score better than the 6.3 he was requiring.

“Well done to Caleb, he took a chance on that southern bank and that won him the final – I’m here to represent North Narrabeen in the Team’s final and that all starts tomorrow so I’m looking forward to that- today was a good warm up” said Webster.

Past winners of the Jim Beam Boardriders Cup are 2006 - Drew Courtney (Umina), 2007 - Steve Clements (Long Reef), 2008 - Drew Courtney (Umina), 2009 - Glen Hall (Umina), 2010 - Dion Atkinson (Seaford), 2011 - Caleb Reid (Bronte)

Four new Boardriding Clubs joined the growing competition in 2011/12, Brunswick (NSW), Jones Beach (NSW), Forresters (NSW) and Newcastle's Northside (Stockton, NSW).

The seventy four Boardriding Club's sponsored by Jim Beam are:

NSW	QLD
Boomerang Beach	Noosa
Merewether	Mudjimba
Catherine Hill Bay	North End
Norah Head	Mermaid Nobby's Miami
Avoca	Burleigh Heads
McMasters	Palm Beach
Umina	Currumbin Alley
North Avalon	Kirra
Newport	Snapper Rocks
Mona Vale	Kingscliff
North Narrabeen	Cabarita
Long Reef	Byron Bay
Dee Why	Lennox Ballina
Curl Curl	Duranbah
Port Macquarie	Coolum
Frenchman's	North Shore
Freshwater	Brunswick
Queenscliff	WA
North Steyne	Margaret River
Bondi	Yallingup
Bronte	Cottesloe
Maroubra	City Beach
Sth End Maroubra	Scarborough - WA
Elouera	Contacio
Cronulla	Trigg Point
Garie	Geraldton
Scarborough	VIC
Sandon Point	Peninsula (Mornington)
Woonona	Phillip Island
East Corrimal	13th Beach
Wollongong	Torquay
Werri Beach	Otway
Ulludulla
North Shelly	SA
Wamberall	Seaford
Saltwater	Seaview Road Boardriders
Southbridge
Blacksmith's
Tea Tree
Jones Beach
Forresters
Northside (Stockton)