Last Sunday, the 2024 Shark Island Challenge was run and done after a six year hiatus in the wide world of sporting wilderness. Cronulla’s finest Matt Percy won the event in his inception in 1997, and fellow Aussie countryman Jason Finlay was the winner of the last edition held in 2017 (see winners list here).
As a media platform we may say communication of the event was far from ideal. Also the conditions were far from expected. The bodyboard fans worldwide expected more in terms of wave quality, really, but it is what it is. The call was made, so please don’t kill the messenger.
The players involved seem to be happy and supportive, so do we. After all, it’s bodyboarding and we need to be happy and grateful every time a person or a group of people get together to celebrate a special day. So, thanks to everybody who made it possible.
In terms of competition, it was a sunny day in the heart of Cronulla, but the conditions were really tough for all the bodyboarders in the draw. Some of the best in the world were present and gathered on the notorious Shark Island.
With heavy water moving, in challenging 6-10ft plus tricky waves, with a growing SSE swell washing through, was hard for the riders to line up waves that wrapped in on the reef perfectly. We guess only the gut instinct and pure survival mindset make it possible advancing through the first round and into the semis and then the final.
Marli Dunn, Ben Sawyer, Andrew Lester and Michael Ostler were the top four finalists. Local boy Andrew Lester used his knowledge of the spot to advance to the final heat, even having a beating on one arm in a rodeo spicy like ride during the semis.
Along with fellow local Ben Sawyer both made the final a two-horse race, performing extremely in front of 1000 beach spectators, accordingly to organization, in a very risky mode. In the end, Ben Sawyer, a guy that puts a lot of his time surfing around the Sydney slabs, conquered his maiden victory at the Shark Island Challenge.
Congrats for coming on top on this full blown Oz reunion with local and international legends like Stewart, Houston, Romero, Winchester, Finnegan, Pollard and Kokorelis!
