MIKEY MCDONAGH AND PHILIPPA ANDERSON WIN COFFS HARBOUR OPEN

Mikey McDonagh (Lennox Head, NSW) and Philippa Anderson (Merewether, NSW) have won the inaugural Coffs Harbour Open – stop six of the Australian Open of Surfing series – after a day of exciting action in picturesque two-to-three foot conditions at Diggers Beach.
 
Philippa Anderson showed she had copious amounts of experience surfing at a high-level, taking down her younger fancied competition in the Open Women’s final. Anderson made her mark on the final early in the exchange, posting a 7.67 and a 6.33 to take her two-wave heat total to 14.00. The seasoned competitor executed a handful of beautiful snaps on the tricky low-tide sandbank to gain the upper hand in the final and as a result, left her closest rival, runner-up Ellia Smith (Coolum Beach, Qld) needing a solid 7.94 wave score to take away her lead.
 
“After getting third-place finishes in the Cronulla Open and the Mattara event, it definitely feels good to get the win,” said Anderson. “My coach and I had developed a game plan to get in two decent turns on a wave as I knew it was going to be a hard feat with the lower tide. Those younger girls definitely keep you on your toes, so I definitely wanted to get the win ahead of them.”
 
Hot off a win with his local Le-Ba Boardriders at the recent nudie Australian Boardriders Battle, Mikey McDonagh capped off a giant long weekend of massive results taking out the Open Men’s division. McDonagh started off slow, only posting tiny scores in the opening stages of the heat, but was able to capitalise when punchy waves arose, notching up an 8.33 and 7.83 to post a decent 16.16 two-wave heat total. Runner-up Chris Zaffis (Angourie, NSW) showed moments of flair in the heat, holding down the lead for portions of the final, but was pipped by McDonagh by a 0.53 point margin.
 
“It was a gigantic long weekend of surfing here in Coffs and I was pretty cooked yesterday from a giant day on Saturday at the Boardriders Battle, but I came here this morning pretty fired up to compete,” said McDonagh. “After the first heat this morning, the conditions changed so much and I found that it really suited me as the heats went on. I’m just stoked to have taken this out.”
 
The Coffs Harbour Open saw approximately 100 competitors surfing across the male and female divisions and formed the sixth of eight events on the Australian Open of Surfing Series.
 
Surfing Australia and Surfing NSW are stoked to announce the three NSW qualifying events and the National Final in the 2020/21 nudie Australian Boardriders Battle Series and the remaining Australian Open of Surfing series events will be streamed live on Kayo Sports.
 
The prime locations for the Coffs Harbour Open were Park Beach and Macauleys with backup locations of Diggers, Gallows and Sawtell.
 
The entire Australian Open of Surfing series features eight events that will take place in the latter months of 2020 and provide professional and aspiring surfers with the opportunity to win prize money and gain momentum going into 2021.
 
Each event in NSW will see a total $7000 prize purse with $1500 going to the winner of the Men’s and Women’s divisions.
 
In addition to a larger prize purse, all events on the Australian Open of Surfing series will be webcast live through surfingnsw.com.au and the Surfing NSW Facebook.
 
The 2020 Australian Open of Surfing series will see events in:
Sunshine Coast, Qld – 19th – 20th September 2020
Gold Coast, Qld – 31st October – 1st November 2020
Cronulla – 8th – 9th November 2020
Port Macquarie – 14th – 15th November 2020
Kiama – 22nd – 23rd November 2020
Coffs Harbour – 29th – 30th November 2020
Far South Coast Open – 5th – 6th December 2020
Northern Beaches – 13th – 14th December 2020
 
All events will adhere to strict COVID-19 policies and regulations outlined by the Australian Government and council protocols.
 
The 2020 Australian Open of Surfing NSW Series is proudly supported by the NSW Government through its tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW. The event is also supported by Destination Kiama, Coffs Harbour City Council, Sutherland Shire Council, Port Macquarie Hastings Council, Eurobodalla Shire Council and Northern Beaches Council.
 
RESULTS:
Open Men
1 – Mikey McDonagh (Lennox Head, NSW)
2 – Chris Zaffis (Angourie, NSW)
3 – Kobi Clements (Long Reef, NSW)
4 – Jackson Baker (Merewether, NSW)
 
Open Women
1 – Philippa Anderson (Merewether, NSW)
2 – Ellia Smith (Coolum, Qld)
3 – Carly Shanahan (Wolli, NSW)
4 – Bonnie Hills (Mullaway, NSW)