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| The Roxy Pro at Sunset Beach |
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The ladies had some beautiful surf to challenge, and challenge it they did. The event began with a couple of quick trials heats of six surfers each. Half went on to the finals where the trials winner, Stephanie Gilmore, gained entry into the main event. Because of an injury to seeded surfer Silvana Lima, second place finisher Melanie Bartels was able to sneak in, too. Gilmore is an 18-year-old Australian surfing sensation who seemingly came out of nowhere with a win at her home break, Snapper Rocks, in the 2005 World Championship Tour event as a 17-year-old wildcard. She has ended 2006 ranked second on the World Qualifying Tour. Melanie Bartels is a Hawaiian from the Westside of O’ahu who has been one of the best surfers in Hawaii for about a decade. She finished right behind Gilmore on the WQS, in third place. These two trialists took on the top 16 female competitive surfers in the world at one of the most demanding surf spots in the world, and then methodically beat each and every one of them. In her quarterfinal heat, Melanie beat reigning World Champion Chelsea Georgeson, Claire Bevilacqua and Samantha Cornish. In winning the first semifinal, she again finished above Chelsea, and eliminated two-time World Champion Sofia Mulanovich and North Shore local Megan Abubo. On her own journey into the finals, Stephanie took down Jessi Miley-Dyer (winner of the WQS and the third jewel in the women’s Triple Crown, the Billabong Pro at Honolua Bay), and Heather Clarke in her quarterfinal. She won her semifinal heat over Rochelle Ballard, soon to be seven-time World Champion Layne Beachley, and Melanie Redman-Carr, who won the first three contests of the 2006 WCT. For most of the final, Stephanie was in total control. Her second and third waves with scores of 4.83 and 8.67 had her leading rather comfortably. Rochelle Ballard and Chelsea Georgeson couldn’t get more than a turn or two on any wave before it would peter out on them, and uncharacteristically neither one of them managed a score of even a 3.0. Melanie had one good wave of a 6.83, which on it’s own was enough for second place. Then, with less than 20 seconds left, a medium-sized wave strolled through the lineup. Stephanie let it roll underneath her, totally uninterested. With 14 ticks on the clock, Melanie swung around, dropped in, snapped, tucked into a bit of a barrel, whacked the wave again, and scored 7.33. Enough for a victory ride up the beach to the stage. She also got the big check, the big trophy and the confidence to kick some top 17 ‘okole next season on the WCT. Stephanie finished second, and was rewarded with the coveted Triple Crown Nose Guard Rookie of the Year award. Rochelle and Chelsea had surfed solidly and radically leading up to the final, but as the horn blew they were both unceremoniously comboed, with Rochelle in third, Chelsea in fourth. So, in a Hollywood ending, it was the two Cinderellas who came in and upset the established professional surfers. One, the highly touted Australian teenager, the other a young mother hailing from the impoverished West Side, who only got her window of opportnity due to another competitor’s injury. Nothing worth having comes easily, and if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again. God helps those who help themselves. Never give up. Clichés perhaps, but Melanie Bartels became the poster woman for such mottos when she beat Stephanie Gilmore and everyone else at the Roxy Pro. She showed that, regardless of her label as ‘CT or ‘QS, Westsider, Hawaiian, or single mom, she could triumph over the best in the world. And all of the surfers in the Roxy Pro at Sunset proved that, yes, the women can also triumph over Sunset Beach. Roxy Pro Results: 1) Melanie Bartels (HAW) 2) Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 3) Rochelle Ballard (HAW) 4) Chelsea Georgeson (AUS)
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