Joel Parkinson, Burleigh Heads, Australia

The Breaka Burleigh Pro on the weekend was, as one news-reader put it, “marred by aggro and fisticuffs”. This meant that a lot of other action during the contest was over-looked. Other than Taj Burrow’s win, the other campaign that had a lot of it’s thunder stolen was that of Joel Parkinson. Joel won his round of 64, his round of 32, then his quarter-final (beating Brett Simpson and Julian Wilson and scoring an 8.9 and 6.87). He then won his semi-final before giving Taj a good run for top spot on the podium in the final, but eventually finishing silver. The shot you see above is from Joel’s round of 32 heat. Photog Simon Muirhead (who took the shot) says the image is uncropped and though it’s probably taken a little too close for the 70-200mm lens he’s using, it was hard to get any distance between camera and surfers as competitors were literally surfing over the rocks. Simon watched most of the contest and was of the opinion that the non-top 40 guys were struggling to keep up with Joel and Taj.