Since entries opened in September, over 500+ videos have been submitted from all corners of the globe including Australia, New Zealand, USA, Portugal, Spain, France, Brazil, India, Wales, Indonesia, South Africa, French Polynesia, Peru, Canada, Thailand, Japan and more making it easily a touchstone year for the BL BLAST OFF and truly building a global community.
“Transforming the Blast Off from a physical event to an online virtual form has been the best thing we have done, while it has been 15 years in the making this event has connected us with a global audience who dig what we are doing and what we stand for. Together we have spent the last eight weeks focussed on getting stoked, surfing better and building a global community of frothing surfers.” Barton Lynch
The winners of the competition for 2020 across the categories, including The Expert’s Choice, People’s Choice, Best Wave, Worst Wipe Out, Best Tube, Best Air and Most Potential represent some of the most fearless and skilled young surfers including New Zealand’s Jack Tyro, who won Keenest Grom, Bali-based South African surfer Kai Hall, Oahu’s Erin Brooks and the UK’s Lukas Skinner.
The winners of the Expert Choice category receive a Perfect Wave trip to the Maldives, while winners in the People’s Choice category receive passes to Surf Lakes in Yeppoon to surf with Barton Lynch himself. Other category winners receive surfboards courtesy of Channel Islands Surfboards and Lost Mayhem Surfboards.
BOOST MOBILE BL BLAST OFF VIDEO CHALLENGE WINNERS
THE EXPERT’S CHOICE
Kai Odriozola (Basque Country, Spain)
PEOPLE’S CHOICE
Rickson Falcao (Brazil)
Jorre Claeys (Belgium)
BEST WAVE
WORST WIPEOUT
BEST TUBE
Kai Hall (Bali via South Africa)
BEST AIR
MOST POTENTIAL
COACH AKO’s MOST POTENTIAL
Eden Hasson (Boat Harbour) AUS
DIVISIONAL WINNERS
GIRLS & BOYS 8s
Leihani Zoric (Broken Head, AUS)
GIRLS & BOYS 10s
Lucas Deffenti (Gold Coast, AUS)
GIRLS & BOYS 12s
Ocea Curtis (Lennox Head, AUS)
GIRLS & BOYS 14s
Kai Odriozola (Basque Country, SPA)
A late addition to the categories is BL’ s MVP! After seeing so many tenacious personalities Lynch wanted the opportunity to pay respect to the kid who in his opinion contributed to the event in the most meaningful way. The winner for the 2020 Boost Mobile BL Blast Off Video Challenge MVP is Kai Hall; “Kai submitted so many great videos with absolutely mental tube rides and was in the lead with a Desert Point freight train for Best Tube for a longtime and then Hawaii’s Luke Tema got a crazy one at Rifles and stole the lead.This motivated the young South African to chase that swell to Nias and get back his Best Tube lead and he did just that with the ride of a lifetime that took him to worldwide notoriety. The fact that our event contributed in motivating Kai and driving him to greatness is what we are all about and why I couldn’t go past Kai for most valuable player” Barton Lynch
BL’s MVP
Kai Hall (Bali via South Africa)
Says Barton Lynch about the entries for 2020, the talent level was exceptional. Not only that, but the entries proved the strong love and passion for surfing that the kids brought to their videos. With entries from all corners of the globe the Boost Mobile BL Blast Off Video Challenge was a truly uniting event.
“One of our challenges was making sure people knew that Blast Off is for all surfers of any level of ability, not just the good kids and it didn’t matter what level you start at, because the goal was to improve. Right from the opening, we started seeing a variety of different skill levels and in the end, we attracted the very best kids and the recreational kids so that message got out; it was all about the stoke, and people got that.” Barton Lynch
The challenge, judged by Lynch himself and a panel of some of the world’s most exciting young names in surfing including Jack Robinson, Kyuss King, Mahina Maeda, Vahine Fierro and Eli Hanneman, has seen kids enter the radars of some of the sport’s biggest stars.
“Having been able to be a part of the original blast off for all these years as a grommet, I was so excited to be able to offer feedback and judge, the level was incredible.” KYUSS KING
FINALS WEEK VIDEOS
The BL Blast Off was established in 2006 by Barton Lynch as a coaching program and surfing championships in Sydney and since then, it has developed a strong legacy within the world’s surf community. It is the largest event of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere and has been growing in its global development with events in Sydney, Bali and the Maldives and thanks to this year’s global video challenge.
For more information about the history of BL Blast Off and this year’s challenge, visit the official website.
www.bartonlynch.com I www.blblastoff.com.au I #blblastoff I Instagram I Facebook
Beehive PR: Sammie sammie@beehive-pr.com.au 0408 738 054
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