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<\/p>\nASSOCIATION OF SURFING PROFESSIONALS (ASP) INTERNATIONAL<\/p>\n
Roxy Pro Gold Coast
\nEvent No. 1 on the 2007 ASP Women\u0092s World Tour
\nSnapper Rocks, Coolangatta, Australia
\nFebruary 27 \u0096 March 11, 2007<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
COOLANGATTA, Australia (Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2007) \u0096 Seven-time World Champion Layne Beachley (AUS) will be formally honored for her 2006 title at the Foster\u0092s ASP World Champion\u0092s Crowing this weekend, but from next week forward, it\u0092s all about 2007 and ASP Women\u0092s World Title No. 8.\u0093Starting the season defending the world title and having the first event on my home turf is a great way to start the tour and I\u0092m really looking forward to getting off to a good start,\u0094 Beachley said. \u0093I\u0092m also looking forward to seeing how the new girls like Stephanie Gilmore, Caroline Sarran and Rosy Hodge perform in their debut event as ASP World Tour surfers.\u0094<\/p>\n
The 34-year-old champion, whose career spans a very decorated 18 years, will be drawing challengers nearly half her age when the Roxy Pro Gold Coast, the first stop on the 2007 ASP Women\u0092s World Tour, kicks off next week. Beachley\u0092s confidence remains unfaltering.<\/p>\n
\u0093Mentally, I\u0092m one of the toughest competitors you can come up against so I don\u0092t really need to work too much on my mental strength,\u0094 Beachley said. \u0093My preparation has really been about spending more time in the water and more time working on my equipment.\u0094 <\/p>\n
Beachley has won countless ASP Women\u0092s World Tour events, but has never clinched a Roxy Pro Gold Coast crown. Local girl and tour rookie Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) has. <\/p>\n
Gilmore won the Roxy Pro as a wildcard in 2004 and beat Beachley in the final of the inaugural Havaianas Beachley Classic to post her second elite tour win as a wildcard last October.<\/p>\n
\u0093I know that Stephanie (Gilmore) probably knows this wave better than anyone \u0096 she proved that in 2004,\u0094 Beachley said. \u0093But at the end of the day, it comes down to competitiveness, being confident with your surfing ability and just being patient. Every girl on tour is a good surfer, everyone has the ability to win events so it just comes down to who wants it the most, who\u0092s willing to work hardest for it and who\u0092s going to be the most patient in the lineup.\u0094 <\/p>\n
Gilmore has spent more time in the Snapper Rocks line-up than the rest of the world\u0092s Top 17 female surfers, but expectations and media speculation surrounding Gilmore\u0092s rookie year could place additional pressure on the 19-year-old.<\/p>\n
\u0093There are definitely a lot of expectations floating around, but I think a lot of them are ones I have put on myself because I really want to perform at my best and prove to everyone that I am here to stay,\u0094 Gilmore said. \u0093I’m thinking the best way to deal with it is to try to put it out of my mind and have some fun. Plus, I think I have a little bit of an advantage living here – I surf Snapper almost every day. Hopefully I’ll be able to take that local knowledge and use it to get myself all the way to the final.\u0094<\/p>\n
And on Beachley and their budding rivalry: \u0093I have come out on top in the couple of heats I’ve had against Layne, so I think she is pretty keen to put me back in my place and show me who’s boss,\u0094 Gilmore said. \u0093It will be pretty interesting if we draw each other again at Snapper. Layne is a seven-time world champ with nothing to prove, so I think that’s the advantage she’ll have, less pressure.\u0094<\/p>\n
Sitting slightly under Beachley and Gilmore on the radar but reveling in that fact, is another local, 2005 ASP Women\u0092s World Champion Chelsea Hedges (formerly Georgeson).<\/p>\n
“I would say that Steph is definitely going to be one of the hardest girls to beat out there because she’s got so much experience and she\u0092s been surfing this wave ever since she could stand up on a board,\u0094 Hedges said. \u0093Steph will be really good for our tour, as is Layne (Beachley) having seven world titles now. All the focus is probably going to be on those two girls, which is good for me because I can just cruise along quietly and do my own thing. It’s going to be a really good year for us and I think this event is going to really set the standard for the rest of the year. It’s going to be really exciting.”<\/p>\n
The waiting period for the Quiksilver and Roxy Pros begins February 27th, 2007. Be sure to catch all the action LIVE at www.aspworldtour.com, www.quiksilver.com and www.roxy.com<\/p>\n
For a full list of surfer profiles, season schedules, event profiles, news stories and much more, be sure to log on to the new and improved www.aspworldtour.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ASSOCIATION OF SURFING PROFESSIONALS (ASP) INTERNATIONAL Roxy Pro Gold Coast Event No. 1 on the 2007 ASP Women\u0092s World Tour Snapper Rocks, Coolangatta, Australia February 27 \u0096 March 11, 2007 COOLANGATTA, Australia (Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2007) \u0096 Seven-time World Champion Layne Beachley (AUS) will be formally honored for her 2006 title at the Foster\u0092s ASP … Continue reading “BEACHLEY, GILMORE & GEORGESON HEADLINE ROXY PRO GOLD COAST LINE-UP”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-13563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-surfing-news-archive","tag-surfing-news-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13563\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}