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GUARDIAN Wed, 09 Dec 2009 09:23:29 GMT
Greg Long carries off 'The Eddie' in a competition for the world's best held only when waves reach mammoth proportions
It is the ultimate surfing competition: an event only held when the waves reach epic proportions on the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii.
Known as "The Eddie" afer legendary surfer and North Shore lifeguard Eddie Aikeau, yesterday's event was won by professional surfer Greg Long, who rode a massive 30ft plus wave in the final heat.
The Californian outpointed his hero Kelly Slater to win an event that only happens when the waves reach a massive 20 feet (6m) in Waimea Bay. Long, from San Clemente, took first prize of $55,000 in a field of 28 top surfers including Slater, Bruce Irons and Sunny Garcia. All are experienced big-wave riders. Entrants were selected by a poll of surfers.
Long survived a nearly sheer drop down one of the larger set waves late in the final heat. Judges awarded him a perfect 100, pushing him past Slater, who had led through most of the day.
"I'm so happy just to be here, invited into the biggest event of big waves in the world with all my heroes, I'm so excited," said Long. "Riding big waves is my passion and I've been following the Eddie since I knew exactly what it was, I was probably 12 years old just getting into surfing. Since then I've had every single poster from Brock Little to Bruce Irons on my wall."
The event is named after Eddie Aikau who died in 1978 when the traditional Hawaiian canoe he was on with others capsized en route from Hawaii to Tahiti. Aikau paddled on his surfboard towards Hawaii's Lanai island, 19 miles away, to get help but never returned.
This is only the eighth time the conditions have been right since the event was founded in 1984.
Thousands gathered to watch the world's top surfers brave the spectacular waves. Some arrived at 4am local time for a good spot, while others camped out all night.
Officials gave the go-ahead just after dawn and spectators cheered as the competition started with three surfers flying down a massive wave. Anticipation had been building for days as Hawaii's coast was pounded by large waves, some expected to be 30 to 50 feet high, the result of turbulent Pacific storms to the north of the island.
On Monday one world-class surfer, Tom Carroll of Australia, shattered an ankle when he tumbled in the waves. Officials warned crowds not to get too close to the pounding surf.
United States
Surfing
Mark Tran
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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GUARDIAN Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:35:44 GMT
Defeat of carbon trading bill delivers blow to government that had hoped to set an example at international climate change talks in Copenhagen
Australia has dumped its plan to cut the nation's carbon emissions for the second time this year after climate sceptics seized control of the conservative opposition.
The Senate, where the government of the prime minister, Kevin Rudd, does not hold a majority, rejected 41-33 his administration's proposal for Australia to become one of the first countries to install a so-called cap-and-trade system to slash the amount of heat-trapping pollution that industries pump into the air.
It follows a tumultuous week in Australian politics, which saw the ousting of Malcolm Turnbull as opposition leader, after he had pledged to support the government's plans for the trading scheme.
The defeat further undermines Australia's already ailing credibility at the upcoming UN climate change talks in Copenhagen.
But parliamentarians from the Australian Greens party welcomed the demise of the Labor government's carbon emissions trading scheme, calling it "a dirty deal, an exercise in double think, and a deceipt on the Australian people".
Australian Greens senator, Bob Brown, said the debate in Australia had been hijacked by big polluters, particularly in the coal industry. "Climate change minister, Penny Wong, has made a point of seeing all the coal lobbyists. They're very formidable in the impact they have on policy in Australia," Brown said.
If an international agreement is reached in Copenhagen, the scheme of the prime inister, Kevin Rudd, would have cut carbon emissions by between 4% and 25% by 2020, depending on whether there is a global deal in Copenhagen. The scheme, which would have paid big polluting industries $AUS30bn in compensation, did not require a reduction in domestic emissions to meet its targeted cuts, because Australia could have met the target by purchasing permits to pollute from overseas.
"If Rudd's scheme was adopted worldwide, we would be very unlikely to limit the rise in global temperatures to 2C," Andrew Macintosh, associate director of the Australian National University's centre for climate law and policy, said. Still, the deputy prime minister, Julia Gillard, said the government would give the opposition, the Liberal-National coalition, "another chance" to act in "the national interest" by reintroducing the legislation when parliament resumes in February. "We all know the Liberal party is deeply divided on this question," Gillard said.
On Monday, after a week of angry exchanges the coalition dumped its leader, Malcolm Turnbull, who had brokered an agreement with Labour to support the emissions trading scheme.
His replacement, Tony Abbott, has previously described climate change as "crap" but this week claimed that he held a more "considered view". He wants the coalition to consider the introduction of nuclear power to cut Australia's emissions.
Political commentators are speculating the Rudd could call an early election to further divide the opposition which rejects the carbon trading scheme as a "massive tax" on Australians.
Emissions trading
Carbon emissions
Climate change
Copenhagen climate change conference 2009
Australia
Toni O'Loughlin
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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GUARDIAN Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:06:59 GMT
They were the side that couldn't win a game. Now, thanks to an inspiring captain and the world's top-ranked batter and bowler, our cricketers are the all-conquering team that everyone fears
If you'd have said that I'd become a double world champion and an Ashes winner I probably wouldn't have believed you," reflects Charlotte Edwards. "I still have to pinch myself to believe what we've achieved."
As her team gathers at the ECB National Cricket Centre at Loughborough University to prepare for their winter tour to the West Indies, the England captain can look back at a phenomenal year. The side's dominance is unparalleled in cricket, and rare in any sport – holding both major limited-over trophies (both 50-over and Twenty20) and the Ashes is something no men's side – even Australia – has achieved.
Massive investment in the sport since 2005 has paid off. During the 90s, England had failed to win a one-day series against a major side for nearly a decade. Now, 16 years since their last World Cup final, England has a team which, under the astute leadership of Edwards, has changed cricket for ever – illustrated in April this year when the world's leading batter, Claire Taylor, was the first woman named as one of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Year. (Taylor is absent from the photograph on a six-month sabbatical.)
"She's been such a good senior player," says Edwards, who was appointed an MBE in June. "She does everything the right way, and really is good for our younger girls to learn from; hopefully I do the same."
Two players do not make a cricket team, however, and the player of the match in the Twenty20 final defeat of New Zealand at Lord's was 24-year-old Katherine Brunt.
"I was struggling to find some rhythm," recalls the pace bowler from Yorkshire, who, by her own admission, did not have a great tournament en route to the final. "Then my coach took me to the Nursery Ground on the morning of the game, and I just clicked. I got my swing back."
Four overs at 70mph later (on a par with Paul Collingwood), she had taken 3 for 6. England cruised to victory, Taylor hitting the winning runs with six wickets and three overs in hand.
New Zealand were also the opposition in the 50-over final in March, and on that occasion the honour of securing victory had been left to one of the youngest players, Holly Colvin. The first-year Durham University student recalls the clip off her legs with fondness: "That's definitely got to be the highlight of my career so far. It wasn't hitting the winning runs that was the best bit; it was everyone coming onto the pitch, ecstatic, in tears."
Still only 20, Colvin remains the youngest-ever English Test player, and is currently the world's number one ranked bowler. She and Brunt are becoming familiar with fame. Success breeds attention, and interest in the game has grown exponentially. Research released by the ECB last year showed a 45% increase in participation in women's and girls' cricket, and England coach Mark Lane points out that more of the team come from state schools than private.
Lane is ensuring his charges keep their feet on the ground. He is keen to talk about the future, makes a point of praising cricket's administrators, and highlights the 50-over series against Australia in the summer as the biggest challenge of 2009. This first-ever series defeat of the Aussies was truly emphatic – 4-0 with one washout – and the Ashes were retained days later in a one-off Test.
The players' approach is consistent and impressive. This is a team with a superb work ethic, and there's every reason to suggest that England could now continue to dominate the sport for several years. It will be impossible to outdo this year, but, like her coach, the England captain is keen not to dwell too much on the past: "We've worked really, really hard to be number one in the world, and for me, this is only the start. I still don't think we've played our best cricket."
England women's cricket team
Women's........
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| Full List of Australia articles |
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 Burying The Truth: Burying Schapelle Corby
YOUTUBE 16-Oct-2008
Many Australians saw Schapelle Corby's human rights being trampled upon with their own eyes. They saw the nature of the show trial for themselves: the refusal to test the drugs for country ...
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NEWS SUMMARY
Love before cricket: star's priorities outrage Australia
Rains raise Australia drought hopes
'Bottled ghosts' attract New Zealand auction buyers
Haddin ton sets up Australia win
Homeless evicted from Bondi Beach
Faith Diary: Faith Falls Down Under
Mummy goes to court in attempt to protect her name
Police racism in the dock as new inquest opens into Aboriginal man's death
Outrage over Australia war games
New Zealand edge past Australia
'Germaine Greer? She has no idea what makes women tick,' says Nowra
Aborigines debate nuclear plan
Pakistan, Australia agree to bilateral cooperation
Missing man's mother joins search
5,200 Australians bare all in Sydney photo shoot
Naked pride - thousands strip off for art at Sydney Opera House
'They have tried to destroy me' says rising star of Parisian art world
Australia green minister demoted
Guantanamo man to sue Australia
Jane Campion alleges sexual harassment at film festival
Lee poised for Test retirement
Australia 'faces permanent alert'.jpg)
Eritreans rally against sanctions
Cipriani agrees Melbourne switch
Australia to get first-ever saint
Profit for Australia's national airline plunges
'Kidnap' a joey to save a species
