Considine set to surf in World Longboard Tour event in Manly

WHEN the World Longboard Tour kicks off in Manly on Sunday, Barwon Heads local Ben Considine will be throwing on the jersey with the whole of Victoria behind him.

After making the tough decision to withdraw from an event in Mexico, the former Australian champion reaped the rewards, qualifying for the first stop of the World Surf League WLT by taking out the title in the event trials which were held at Birubi Beach in Port Stephens just under a fortnight ago.

In competition, Considine was able to throw together a series of excellent scoring rides against some of Australia’s best, seeing him reign supreme.

“I’m absolutely elated that I was able to book a spot through to the World Tour event at Manly,” Considine said.

“To be against such a competitive 32-competitor field who were all vying for the same end goal and to come out on top is something that I was very proud of.”

Considine acknowledged the final ended up being a nail-biter with the leaderboard changing on numerous occasions.

“It was a nail-biter of a finish as three of the finalists all got waves in the dying stages as the biggest set of the final came rolling on through.

“Sitting out the back of the lineup, I had no idea that I’d moved from first to third during this exchange.

“Luckily, my last score of a 7.93 (out of a possible 10) was enough to put me back into the lead and book a spot in the main event at Manly.”

After cancelled and shorter world tour structures rocked competition in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, Considine is eager to take his chance against the world’s best and keep moving towards his goal one day of being a world champion.

“Going into the Manly event as an Australian competitor is huge, considering how hard it has been to get a crack in the world tour events over the last few years.

“The pandemic threw up a massive curveball for Australian competitors, as we were unable to travel to the events overseas and therefore most of us all missed out on gaining an opportunity to qualify for any events in 2020 and 2021.

“To qualify and have an event back in Australia, and to get that chance to have an impact again in the top league is really important to me and will no doubt kickstart my 2022 professional aspirations.”

Considine is no stranger to top tier events having been a competitor in some of the biggest longboarding tour events on the planet including the Mexi Log Fest, the Noosa Festival of Surfing and the Surf Relik event in California.

The competition at Manly will host 20 surfers for the men’s division and 20 surfers for the women’s division.

Each field will be made up of the Top 10 from the 2021 rankings, seven surfers selected from the regions, one WSL wildcard, and two event wildcards.

The event is set to kick off on Sunday (May 16) in Manly and will run alongside the Challenger Series event through to May 24.