presents

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE- June 6, 2005

East Coast Wahines gearing up for summer competition

Wrightsville Beach Beach, NC-- The 9h Annual East Coast Wahine Championships will be held August 20-21, 2005 in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Nearly two hundred wahines will travel from up and down the east coast and Texas, bringing friends and family for two days of camaraderie and competition.

The East Coast Wahine Championships was the first all female amateur surfing contest on the east coast. The event began in 1997 and has grown steadily incorporating a Pro Longboard division in 2002. This year, the ECWC will introduce a Pro Shortboard division. Previously called “advanced shortboard” this division will now offer a prize purse. Other divisions include amateur shortboard, longboard, bodyboard, and novice. Entry forms will be available June 13th www.eastcoastwahines.com

This year’s returning champion is North Carolina’s Kelly Nicely- winner of both Pro Longboard and Advanced Shortboard in 2003 and 2004. Kelly didn’t stop at the East Coast Wahine Championships. She continued her winning streak last fall at the ESA Eastern Surfing Championships where she was crowned east coast champion in Women’s Longboard and Shortboard, titles she also claimed in 2003! Kelly, a college student at NC State University has spent the past five months studying and surfing abroad in New Zealand.

The ECWC is proud to announce Billabong as its presenting sponsor. Billabong is one of the foremost companies in the surf industry and is a leading supporter of women’s surfing. Billabong presents a World Championship Tour event in Teahupo’o and a stand-alone women’s event in Maui, HI. Billabong sponsors the world’s best female surfers, snowboarders and skateboarders, and is committed to supporting the progression of women’s surfing, and aspiring female surfers through surf camps such as the Maui Surfer Girls in Hawaii and the Billabong Sebastian Inlet Surf Camp in Florida. Billabong’s east coast team riders include Connie Arias, Keenan Lineback, Leah Dawson, Molli Miller, Kayleigh Winslow, and Holly Nettles.
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For more information on the East Coast Wahine Championships, please visit the official website, www.eastcoastwahines.com or contact Anne Beasley Weber, anne@eastcoastwahines.com, 949.212.7486