Chaired up the beach by fellow Chilli team mate Cooper Chapman, Matty Banting celebrates his first world title today in the lovely Piha, Aukland New Zealand.

 Stay tuned for more info...

Matt Banting has added yet another title to the list in taking out the Arnette Australian Junior titles under 16 division in Coolum. Matt was handed the belt (so to speak) from fellow Chilli team mate Cooper Chapman, who won event last year.

Matt was also awarded the prestigious Duke Kahanamoku and Ma/Pa Bendall/Isabel Letham award for emerging junior surfers displaying a high degree of sportsmanship and international surfing potential.

The win earnt him a position in the TravelSim Team Australia, which heads to Piha, New Zealand for the ISA World Junior Surfing Championships, which you can watch live from January 20-28 by clicking this link

Chilli riders Cooper Chapman [Narrabeen], Creed McTaggert [Margaret River] and Matty Banting [Port Macquarie] are psyching up for big results at the ISA World Junior Championships that kick off in Ecuador this March. The boys will going up against each other and teams from all over the world in their quest to claim the ISA World Junior Title. As well as having huge individual aspirations the young Aussie's will be working together to try and claim gold for Australia for the fourth consecutive year. Chilli Surfboards owner and designer, James Cheal, has plenty of praise for his junior riders: "All the boys have been surfing insane leading up to this Championship shot and I just want to wish them well and remind them that if you're not first, you're last! Nah, I'm kidding. Go mad, fellas. Hope the boards serve you well!" Stay tuned to the site for more news on the ISA World Junior Championships. In the meantime, check some ancient Matty Banting footage we found on youtube while you're here. Kid surfs 10 times better than that now. Watch out world!

Our mate C.J. Hobgood blazed to victory in an Australia heavy final at the ISA World Surfing Games on October 19, 2008. Hobgood, who was in full form through out the event, bested Aussies Kai Otton, Dayyan Neve and Heath Joske to claim the Open Mens gold medal and secure the silver for Team USA. However, Australia was able to defend their gold medal team finish, making it their third consecutive win in a row.

CJ rode his trusty A2 Curve Chilli Surfboard (5’11, 18 1/8, 2 1/8 Squash tail – just in case you were interested) to gold. Congrats to CJ on his victory and to the Australian side for wining the team championship! (Maybe the Aussie boys should have been riding Chilli boards too… ouch!)

[Images: courtesy of www.isasurf.org]