Surfing: Teens to surf Grom Prix

The region’s best junior surfers will get a taste of one of the biggest arenas in surfing when they compete in the Grom Prix during Margaret River’s Telstra Drug Aware Pro later this month.

Forty-one of WA’s best junior surfers have been invited to the event which gives up-and-coming surfers the opportunity to compete alongside some of their heroes.

Flying the flag for Yallingup and Dunsborough in the boys’ event are Leo and Sasha Hopkins, Boston Kavanagh, Harry Wise and Duke Nagtzaam, while Eliza Greene, Marie Bradley and Rebecca Lickel were invited to compete in the girls’ competition.

Boston, 14, said he loved competing in the Grom Prix because it was fun and he learned a lot from coaches and the experience of a big competition.

He said his surfing idols were Mick Fanning and Ace Buchan, and he hoped to make a career out of surfing.

Preliminary Grom Prix heats will start on Saturday next week, with competitors making it into the finals to surf in front of a big crowd before the Telstra Drug Aware Pro men’s final the following day.

Meanwhile, Jake Paterson was the only Yallingup surfer to have entered the local trials for the Drug Aware Pro, which will kick off this coming Sunday.