Two Gqeberha surfer brothers are extremely stoked to be ranked number one and two in the Eastern Province.
Bryce and Mitch du Preez, (both second year IIE Bachelor of Commerce students at The IIE’s Varsity College, Nelson Mandela Bay) have been surfing for fun since 2015 and competitively since 2018.
They have racked up an impressive list of achievements over the years.
Mitch’s recent achievements have seen him compete in the 2022 SA Surfing Championships men’s open division, which took place in October, and was placed fifth.
He also competed in both the World Surf League Championship Tour – Challenger Series which took place in Cape Town in March and in East London in April.
He made the quarter-finals in both events.
Looking back in time at their surfing journey
In 2021, at the Sea Harvest Cape Crown challenge at Muizenburg Beach, Mitch competed in the u/18 category, winning the silver medal. In the same year, Mitch was crowned champion of the SA Junior Championship in the u/18 category.
In 2018, he made the SA team in u/16 and in the same year competed in the California World Junior Championships, where he made the quarter-finals.
Similarly, Bryce has had a rather fruitful surfing career thus far.
Most recently, he too competed in the 2022 SA Surfing Championships men’s open division but disappointingly crashed out in the early stages of the competition.
Earlier this year, he also competed in the World Surf League Championship Tour – Challenger Series, where he finished fifth in Cape Town in March and made the semi-finals for the same competition in East London in April.
2021 saw Bryce make the SA u/21 squad and compete in the Sea Harvest Cape Crown challenge, which he won in his age category. Bryce also won the SA Junior Championships in 2018 and 2019 in the u/18 category.
He also made the SA surfing team in 2018 and went on to win the California World Junior Champs in the same year.
While both were looking forward to making their mark on the USSA games this December and hoping for a podium finish for Varsity College they’ve just been informed that the games will unfortunately no longer be going ahead.
They’ve always been competitive with one another, but the brothers realise that there’s a bigger picture and look forward to one day being ranked first and second in South Africa.
