Taylor Knox to speak at 2010 SA Surfing Awards
South African Surfing’s annual awards evening, which is to be held at Suncoast Casino and Entertainment World on Sunday 4 July, will feature a guest appearance by long-time international surfing star Taylor Knox. This evening will also see the induction of South African surfing legends into the South African surfing Hall of Fame.
The evening recognises top achievement in South African surfing, with accolades for “Surfer of the Year”, “Breakthrough Surfer of the Year”, “Contribution to Transformation” and “Surf photographer of the Year”.
Zigzag’s GM Jeremy Saville said that “Taylor Knox is both the oldest and longest serving member of surfing’s elite World Tour, and we are both honoured and excited to be able to have him as a guest speaker at our awards evening. 2010 is Taylor’s 17th year in the top echelon of World Surfing, which probably represents the only record the Kelly Slater doesn’t hold - he’s in his 16th. With many of the current crop of top SA surfers present at the awards evening, Taylor’s insight into how to carve out a successful professional career will be invaluable to SA surfing”.
Knox, an American, was born in 1971 and began surfing at 8 years old. Apart from being a consistently strong performed on the international circuit, the stylish natural footer has also made a name for himself as a fearless big wave rider.
In addition, the awards evening offers a chance to honour the top competitors in Surfing South Africa’s locally graded Pro Surf Tour and the internationally graded ASP Africa tour. Surfing South Africa’s Robin de Kock said that “the Surfing South Africa Pro Surf Tour Awards recognise the achievements by the overall winners in each category, including Women’s, Pro Junior boys and Girls, as well as the second and third-place surfers in the Men’s division. Not only does SSA recognise their achievements, but we also allocate prize money to all twelve category winners, and we hope that this will help these surfers cover their some of their contest expenses.”
Adds ASP Africa’s Colin Fitch: “We are honoured to be involved with the SA Surfing Awards again. It is a fantastic way to recognise the achievements of our ASP Africa year end champions while at the same time allowing them the privilege of being surrounded by past heroes and legends of our sport. It is also a great way to honour the members of the surf industry for their fantastic contribution to the sport of surfing.”
A major highlight of evening is the induction into the SA surfing hall of fame for some of our country’s surfing pioneers. The SA hall of fame currently consists of 23 inductees. Unfortunately many of them have passed away since the Hall of Fame first began, perhaps highlighting the importance of an evening such as this. While the Surfer of the Year is undoubtedly the most sought after award of the night, it’s the legends with their heritage and surf stories that get the rowdiest applause.
Sponsors for the evening are Paarl Media, Carling Black Label and Suncoast Casino and Entertainment World, and the event is put together by Zigzag Surfing Magazine. “We are delighted to be involved in the South African Surfing Awards again,” said Aaron Ganesh of Paarl Media. “As long time printing partner of one of the world’s oldest surf mags, the awards are a great way for us to cement our support of SA surfing.”
Ticket are available through Computicket and the dress theme for the evening is 80’s revival.
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