Four-time World Champion Mark Richards to Compete in SurfAid Cup at Margaret River

Four-time ASP world surfing champion Mark Richards will be headlining the list of competitors in the SurfAid Cup that will be held as part of this year’s Drug Aware Margaret River Pro in Western Australia this Sunday 17 March.

Richards said he was stoked to be going to Margaret River to compete in the SurfAid Cup. “I am looking forward to going back to WA after more than 20 years and surfing some great waves at Margaret River,” he said. “Hopefully we'll raise a lot of money to support people in need in the remote villages of Indonesia.”

Seven corporate teams have entered this year’s SurfAid Cup, which is a unique fundraising event for humanitarian organisation SurfAid.

The teams are: CINEads, Macquarie, Northern Margaret River Wineries, Caporn Young, Herbert Smith Freehills, Horizon Physio and Southern Margaret River Wineries. Horizon Physio is the first all-girls team in the SurfAid Cup.

Each team is aiming to raise at least $5,000 for SurfAid and the top fundraising teams in order will be able to choose a pro surfer to join their team. The teams have raised more than $85,000 so far.
You can see the team members and donate here:
 http://www.everydayhero.com.au/surfaid_cup_margaret_river_2013

Besides the legendary Mark Richards, other pro surfers who have expressed interest in competing (subject to their Drug Aware Pro schedule) are Mark Occhilupo, Tom Whittaker and Jay Thompson, plus local legend Damon Eastaugh. The competing Hobgood twins are also confirmed to participate again this year.

CINEads is the defending champion and their managing director Wes Stansfield said they were stoked to be competing in the SurfAid Cup again this year. “Our fundraising efforts are in full swing, and we held another SurfAid Movie Night, thanks to Ace Cinemas, and showed Storm Surfers 3D. We also held a big raffle which we drew on the night with prizes to the value of $18,000.”

Stansfield said the surfing part of the SurfAid Cup was secondary to his team, even though they were completely ecstatic to beat the other teams last year -especially two-time world champion Tom Carroll. “But we will do our thing on the day and hopefully get a couple of good waves between us. It was a magical day last year and the camaraderie between the teams was awesome so we are all really looking forward to it,” Stansfield said.

SurfAid Australia board member Charlie Lanchester, the Deputy Head of Aus Equities at Perpetual, was the brainchild behind the SurfAid Cup events in Australia and the US. "I am thrilled that SurfAid is now holding its second SurfAid Cup in Western Australia and sixth overall,” Lanchester said. “The idea of these events was to combine the passion for surfing, that is often hidden behind a suited corporate guy like myself, with the chance to really make a difference and save lives in a remote part of the world,” he said.

“To compete in one of these events has been such a privilege and a big part of the fun has been to paddle alongside so many legendary surfers of past and present. Good luck to the WA crew for this wonderful event."

The CEO of Surfing Western Australia, Mark Lane, said they were looking forward to offering their assistance to SurfAid to help their great cause. “Last year the SurfAid Cup attracted much attention and managed to raise a significant amount of money – we are hopeful that we can improve again on our efforts,” he said.