The nation’s biggest surfing event for the year is to be held in Taitung County next week, featuring a new scoring system to crown a national champion, event organizers said.
The week-long Taiwan Open of Surfing festival begins with an opening ceremony on Monday, with competition taking place from Thursday next week to the following Monday, near Jinzun Harbor in Donghe Township (東河).
Surfers of all ages and skill levels will by vying for more than NT$1 million (US$32,750) in prize money in several categories.
“This year’s competition has two firsts — a points system to determine the Taiwan champion and a surfing training program — that will take the event to another level,” Taitung County Commissioner Justin Huang (黃健庭) said.
The Taitung County Government first staged the international surfing event in 2011 and has tried to increase its scale since then.
Last year, Taitung partnered with the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP), the world’s largest organization of professional surfers, to encourage greater interest at home and around the world.
This year’s competition, the 31st stop in the ASP’s Qualifying Series, is set to be bigger than last year, with three ASP events being held — the men’s 1-Star qualifying series and men’s and women’s longboard qualifying series.
The Taiwan champion is to be crowned based on points from both this year’s and last year’s events.
ASP Australasia general manager Dean Jordan said in September that he was impressed by the atmosphere he saw at last year’s competition.
“The event only holds a 1-Star rating, but last year the surfers were mobbed by fans and photographers at the water’s edge like it was a World Championship event,” he said on ASP’s Web site.
For more details about the Taiwan International Surfing Open, go to its official Web site at www.taiwanopenofsurfing.com.
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