MONSTER BOOST FOR MR PRICE PRO BALLITO
2013/04/22
IMAGE CAPTION: Dale Staples (Westbrook, KZN) rides a perfect barrel during the 2010 edition of the Mr Price Pro Ballito. © Ewing.
Energy and entertainment levels at South Africa’s premier beach and lifestyle event, the Mr Price Pro Ballito, are set to soar when the Monster Energy team touches down in beautiful Ballito in KwaDukuza from July 1-7.
The international Monster surf team will be unleashed in Ballito’s thundering barells and at the beach festival their extreme sports athletes will be hitting adrenalin highs with their wild ‘off-the –hook’ moves.
In the surf it will be international stars such as former ASP World Junior Champion Marc Lacomare (France), brothers Conner and Parker Coffin (USA), Mitch Coleborn (USA), Chippa Wilson (USA), and Matt Banting (AUS) setting the pace in the ASP Prime rated Mr Price Pro Ballito.
Local Monster sponsored surfer Dale Staples from the Eastern Cape will also be in the mix for a slice of the R2,2 million prize purse. Who could forget his majestic barrel rides in the inaugural Mr Price Pro Ballito in 2009 when giant waves shook the event to its core.
“I will never forget that perfect ten point barrel I had against John John Florence (Hawaii) a couple of years back,” said Staples whose surfing dream is to qualify for the elite ASP World Championship Tour.
“The surf was solid and Ballito is just so good in those conditions. I enjoy the power of the wave and the variety of moves the wave allows. All aspects of the judging criteria are tested and the best surfers always do well when those conditions prevail.”
Staples has been impressive on the ASP World Tour this year with a quarter-final finish in the Volcom Pipeline Pro, surfed in perfect waves in Hawaii earlier this year, and will be looking to build momentum in Ballito.
“This is my second year full time on the World Star Tour and luckily I have qualified for all the Primes in 2013,” he explained. “To qualify for the WCT is extremely difficult. All the Primes feature the best surfers, and the Mr Price Pro Ballito is the only one (Prime) in South Africa, so I feel like I need to fulfill my goal of doing well here in order to qualify, both for myself and my sponsors.”
Given the significance of the Mr Price Pro Ballito Staples chose to leave his coastal home town of Cape St Frances and now resides at Westbrook on KwaZulu-Natal North Coast, a mere ten minute drive from the Mr Price Pro event site.
“I moved to Westbrook last year to base my WQS career from KZN so Ballito is now on my backdoor,” explained Staples. “I have surfed the break a lot this year so I'm hoping this will be a kind of advantage this year.”
Running in conjunction with the surfing is the Mr Price Pro Ballito Beach Festival. Reputed to be the biggest beach festival on the African continent, Monster Energy aims to take it to the next level with the inclusion of a number of action packed extreme sports shows performed by their leading extreme sports athletes.
The le Riche Brothers Trial Motorcycle shows, BMX performances by Malcolm Peters and Colin Loudon, not to mention skateboard demonstrations by Adam Wolf, Martin Stoffberg and Nkule Ngubani will ensure that adrenalin is pumping both in and out of the water.
The Mr Price Pro will also stage three evenings of free music concerts at Salt Rock Beach on July 4, 5 and 6 where the Monster Energy hospitality rig will make sure that the fans keep rocking all night long.
“At Monster we celebrate with our fans and team riders to make the coolest events we can think of a reality and that is exactly what you can expect at this year’s the Mr Price Pro Ballito,” said Garan Reck, the Marketing Manager for Monster Southern Africa.
In addition to all of this, Monster Energy is also promoting a ‘Win a Trip To the Pro’ Competition from April 1 – May 5, 2013. Surfing and extreme sport fans have the chance to win a VIP trip to this year’s Mr Price Pro Ballito by simply purchasing two Monster Energy Drinks at Caltex Garages nationwide.