Local longboard duo fall short at nationals

A longboard national title eluded veteran Albany surfer Tony Harrison at the Australian Surf Championships, which wrapped up on the Tweed Coast, NSW this week.

Harrison has been a regular on the national title scene in the past decade and he reached the over-70 men’s final at this year’s Australian Longboard Titles.

However, the crafty West Aussie was not able to breakthrough and claim a national longboard title, finishing third in the final.

Harrison progressed easily in his opening round heat and then a combined best two score total of 7.25 in the semifinals helped him place second and book a place in the four-man final.

In the final Harrison managed a 4.85 with his second wave and then added a 4.5 later on, totalling 9.35 to leave him in third place behind NSW’s Daniel Bond (14 score) and Queensland’s Neville Smith (11).

It was another terrific effort to reach a national final nonetheless from Harrison, who has previously tasted success on a shortboard at national titles.

Harrison also competed in the over-65 men’s division, where he was knocked out in the third round.

Automatically drawn to enter in the second round, Harrison moved through to the third round but that was where he run ended with a score of 6.25 leaving him fourth in his heat that included eventual champion Albie Curtis.

His partner in crime, Denmark’s Mike Neunuebel also competed at the national titles and he was forced into a second round after missing direct qualification from his first heat in the men’s over-60s.

Neunuebel had the best wave score of his heat in the second round, his combined total of 8.1 guiding him into round 3.

He was eliminated but only narrowly, a score of 8.95 not enough to snatch second off Tony Abood (10.2) and get into the semis.

Also competing in the over-55 men’s category, Neunuebel was drawn straight into the second round but he couldn’t progress beyond that with a combined score of 7.15 leaving him in fourth place.