This week Manly Beach, Sydney has hosted the Australian Open of Surfing. With some of the biggest names in surfing and some classic skaters thrown into the mix also, this weekend saw some great action.
Surfing
The surf competition showcassed some great talent, with Joel 'Parko' Parkinson and Taj Burrow; unfortunately both got knocked out, but aside from the pros there were some great juniors.
Matt Banting was pulling some sick moves and in one heat landed two almost perfect scores both over 9, to end with a 19.8.
Skating
The skaters line-up this week included some classic Tony Hawks Skateboarding names, Bob Burnquist; Bucky Lasek and Rune Glifberg. Unfortunately seats were at a premium, so we weren't able to catch these classic skaters.
However we did see the junior competition and these youngsters were so gutsy, with 11 year olds pulling tricks like you wouldn't believe. Check out Luke Russell in this clip
The undoubted highlight of the weekend for me was hearing from Bethany Hamilton. This girl is a real legend.
At the age of 13 whilst surfing in Kauai, Hawaii where she grew up she was attacked by a tiger shark. The shark tore her left arm and left her with a stub.
Despite this she said she knew God's peace through it all. Not content to let the use of one arm hold her back, Bethany got back out on her board. Not only that she began to compete and is now one of the top females in World Surfing.
Her story is one of incredible courage, her surfing ability (one armed) is only rivalled by her rock solid faith. Her book was turned into a film in 2011 called 'The Soul Surfer' she is truly inspirational and definitely worth checking out the film and book.
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