The Commonwealth Bank has won the inaugural BlackBerry SurfAid Corporate Cup in a close-fought battle in one-metre waves at Sydney’s Queenscliff Beach.

In the dying minutes of the one-hour tag team final, CBA2 were in third place until their last surfer Bill Langley scored a 5 out of 10 to leapfrog into first.

CBA2 scored 56.86 to narrowly pip the Australian Lawyers Surfing Association (55.1), with Tengirri Boiz third (48.76) and Goldman Sachs fourth (27.66).

Fellow CBA2 team members Anton Lindell, John Tiller and Richard Grace, plus pro surfer Mark Mathews, were stoked with the victory.

Thruster-inventor Simon Anderson, who surfed on the Morgan Stanley team, said the teams really enjoyed the experience of being under pressure in a heat. “They can appreciate what it’s like for the pro surfers a little more. At least three of my team had not surfed in a contest before,” Simon said.

Thirteen teams raised more than $100,000 for us and Perpetual won the fundraising award by contributing more than $24,000.



The jubilant Commonwealth Bank team celebrates victory in the inaugural BlackBerry SurfAid Corporate Cup.
Photo: Matt Dunbar



Other competing teams were: Citi, Westpac, Morgan Stanley, News Ltd, the Shaw Bros, CBA1, Coastalwatch/Surfing World and the Weekend Warriors.

Each team of four was matched with one pro surfer from a pool including Tom Carroll, Layne Beachley, Simon Anderson, Richie Lovett, Jarrad Howse, Matt Bemrose, Rob Bain and Mark Mathews, who was fresh from the launch of the documentary Fighting Fear.  Bondi Rescue’s Ryan “Whippet” Clark also competed, as well as Queenscliff locals Ben Hamilton, Bryce Martiskin and Ollie Ingham.

Local Queenscliff Boardriders Club A Grade champion Ben Hamilton, who surfed on the Goldman Sachs team, scored the highest aggregate - 27.77 out of 30 - as well as logging the two highest individual waves scores of 9.77 and 9.

Westpac's Andrew Landman won the BlackBerry Wipeout Award for a spectacular over-the-falls in the first round.

CBA’s Richard Grace, 43, chief currency strategist and head of international economics, said: “We feel honoured to win. CBA fielded two teams this year and I have no doubt we'll be back with more teams next year and this event will get bigger and bigger.”



The SurfAid Corporate Cup will now be an annual event. With BlackBerry as presenting sponsor, supporting sponsors for the inaugural event were:  Nando’s, Corona, Spectrum Healthcare, Kit & Kaboodle, Coastalwatch, Surfing World and Surfing NSW.