Scamander's Zac Gray won the under-18 men's division at the Bruny Island Classic. Picture: ASP MEDIA
SCAMANDER'S Zac Gray capitalised on the return of junior divisions to the Bruny Island Surf Classic, the East Coast board rider taking out the under 18s crown at Cloudy Bay at the weekend.
The first event of the 2013 Surfing Tasmania state titles saw competitors jostle in crisp, 2 1/2-metre swell, with both left and right-hand waves breaking throughout Saturday and Sunday.
The event was also the first time in five years that juniors had been included in the program, a move that organiser Phil Quirk said was key to the development of the sport in Tasmania.
Gray was certainly delighted to be there, the 16-year-old beating South Coast surfer Jake Fasnacht and fellow East Coast competitor Ned Bramich to the under 18s win.
The open men's division was won for the second year running by Clifton Beach surfer Luke Bugg, while Bruny Island's Lizzie Stokeley, 15, claimed an astonishing hat-trick of titles for the weekend, bagging the under 16s, under 18s and open women's events.
Rudi Davis took out the under 16s boys' title, and Elliot Goward won the under-14s boys' crown.
The next round of the state surfing titles is the South Coast juniors on February 23 and 24.
