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Submitted: Sunday, August 27, 2006
Peugeot SA Masters Championships
A Surfing South Africa premier event
St Michaels on Sea, KZN South Coast, South Africa
August 24 - 27, 2006
Southern KZN retain Team Trophy at 2006 Peugeot SA Masters Championships
 Hosts Southern KZN retained the Team Trophy at the Peugeot SA Masters Championships at St Mikes today (Sunday), but they needed to pull out all the stops to fend off a determined Zululand team who, when all was said and done, finished just 46 points behind the champions in a 33500 point spread.
This victory was a special one for Southern KZN who, although they won the title last year had to celebrate away from St Mikes as the event was completed at Durban's Bay of Plenty.
This year the surf played ball at St Mikes producing contestable conditions on the first three days and 4 - 6 foot surf for the finals and a jubilant Southern KZN were able to claim a major victory in home waters for the first time in South African surfing history.
To add to the celebrations, long time Southern KZN surfer and defending Legends Division title holder, Frikkie Van Den Berg, took gold once again while another local stalwart Gary Maisch took silver in the Masters division.
If Zululand had managed to find just 47 points more they would have recorded an historic victory. The youngest province in Surfing South Africa is rapidly showing that it has the passion to challenge the big guns having finished a solid fifth in the National Championships in Cape Town earlier this year and now securing a narrow second place in the SA Masters Championships.
Third behind Southern KZN and Zululand were Eastern Province who under the guidance of Dave Lipschitz had put in extra effort for this event. This is a great result for the surfers from EP who have not posted many good team results in recent years .
 They beat their more fancied neighbors, Border by 699 points and although David Malherbe won the Masters and Border team mates Andy Austin and Dave Fish were third and fourth respectively in their Legends and Veterans finals, the East London based team needed a finalist in the Senior Means division to rack up enough points to edge out EP
EP had two in this premier group, Craig Els and Lee Bisset, who came second and third respectively while Raymond Robertson got a third place in the Veterans final and Mush Hide a fourth in the Legends to cement EP's third place in the team competition.
The two powerhouses of South African surfing, KZN and Western Province, were fifth and sixth respectively while Boland finished in seventh place.
In the Main Event individual finals Mike Frew of Zululand posted a ten point ride in the competitive Senior Men's group to take the title from Els, Bisset and John McCarthy of KZN while David Malherbe of Border beat Gary Maisch of Southern KZN into second spot in the Masters final.
Craig Sims of Zululand was third and Peter Mommsen of KZN came fourth.
In the Veterans division honours went the way of Rudi Palmboom who beat fellow KZN surfer Hugh Thompson into second place.
 Raymond Robertson was third and Dave Fish came fourth.
Frikkie van den Berg was the toast of St Mikes for his win over second place Mike Patterson of KZN, third placed Andy Austin of Border and fourth placed Mush Hide of EP in the Legends final.
The Plate champions were Warren Dean of EP in the Senior Means division, Rob Moore Boyle of KZN in the Masters and Jeremy Zinn of WP in the Veterans group.
The 2006 Peugeot SA Masters Championships began on Thursday August 24 and featured over 120 surfers from seven provinces competing in four different categories, namely Senior Men, Masters, Veterans and Legends.
Selection trials for the 2007 SA Masters team which will compete in the ISA World Masters Surfing Championships in Puerto Rico next January were held after the completion of each day's surfing at the Peugeot Masters championships. After three rounds John Mc Carthy (KZN) and Andre Malherbe (Bor) were selected in the 35-39 age group, David Malherbe(Bor) and Craig Sims (Zul) were chosen as the representatives in the 40 -44 age group while Rudi Palmboom (KZN) and Chris Knutsen (Zul) will represent South Africa in the over 45 division at the World Championships.
The team manager is Brendan Callaghan (KZN) and 1978 World Champion Ant Brodowicz (SKZN) is the coach.
FULL RESULTS 2006 PEUGEOT SA MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Team Results
| 1. SOUTHERN KZN |
33608 |
| 2. ZULULAND |
33562 |
| 3. EASTERN PROV |
31354 |
| 4. BORDER |
30655 |
| 5. KZN |
26448 |
| 6. WESTERN PROV |
23750 |
| 7. BOLAND |
20154 |
Individual Main Event
Senior Men
| 1. MIKE FREW |
ZUL - Umhlanga Rocks |
| 2. CRAIG ELS |
EP |
| 3. LEE BISSET |
EP |
| 4. JOHN MC CARTHY |
KZN - Umhlanga Rocks |
Masters
| 1. DAVID MALHERBE |
BOR |
| 2. GARY MAISCH |
SKZN |
| 3. CRAIG SIMS |
ZUL - Westbrook |
| 4. PETER MOMMSEN |
KZN |
Veterans
| 1. RUDI PALMBOOM |
KZN |
| 2. HUGH THOMPSON |
KZN |
| 3. RAY ROBERTSON |
EP |
| 4. DAVE FISH |
BOR |
Legends
| 1. FRIKKIE VAN DEN BERG |
SKZN |
| 2. MIKE PATTERSON |
ZUL - Westbrook |
| 3. ANDY AUSTIN |
BOR |
| 4. MUSH HIDE |
EP |
Individual Plate Event
Seniour Men
Seniour Men
| 1. WARREN DEAN |
EP |
| 2. TREVOR ORYLSKI |
BOR |
| 3. GRAEME FIELD |
WP |
| 4. DAVE RENAUD |
ZUL - Umhlanga Rocks |
Masters
| 1. ROB MOORE BOYLE |
KZN |
| 2. TONY SKIPPAGE |
ZUL - Umhlanga Rocks |
| 3. KERNEELS BRUMMER |
BOL |
| 4. JUDGE OLIVIER |
KZN |
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