Oakley Pro Junior Global Challenge Evolves into Oakley Pro Junior Series and First Oakley ASP World Junior Tour Event

Industry Spy

FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif., February 8, 2010 – After two years of building the most notable Pro Junior series on the planet, the Oakley Pro Junior Global Challenge has evolved into a fully sanctioned Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) series of events including the first stop on the new multi-event ASP World Junior Tour.

The Oakley ASP World Junior Tour event, formerly the Championship event of the Oakley Pro Junior Global Challenge, has become the first stop on the 2010 ASP World Junior Tour, running at the high-performance wave of Keramas in Bali from October 2-13, 2010.

The event will continue to boast a massive $75,000 prize purse for the men’s division and expand from an18-man to a 48-man field made up of six representatives each from ASP Australasia, ASP South America, ASP North America and ASP Europe, five representatives each from ASP Africa, ASP Hawaii and ASP Japan, as well as, additional wildcards. The event will also include a women’s division with a field of 18 vying for a $20,000 prize purse.

The addition of the Oakley World Junior Tour event will help crown the undisputed ASP World Junior Champions who will be the male and female surfer ranked No. 1 after the completion of the ASP World Junior Tour.

“Oakley is excited to be part of such a major change to junior surfing around the world,” said Ronny Nelson, Oakley Sports Marketing Manager. “This revolution, that the Oakley Pro Junior Global Challenge helped spur, is long overdue. Surfers will now have more than one chance to prove who is the top junior, which will help determine a true champion. We have high expectations for our event in Bali this year. The world’s best juniors will compete during optimal conditions at Bali’s best high performance right-hand reef break of Keramas.”

Over the past several years, Oakley has hosted a series of ASP-sanctioned regional Pro Junior events around the world that have also served as qualifiers for the Oakley Pro Junior Global Challenge in Bali. Oakley is maintaining its commitment to the world-wide regional events, which will continue to provide crucial ASP regional points to qualify for the World Junior Tour events.

This year’s Oakley Pro Junior series kicks off Tuesday, Feb. 9-13 at North Stradbroke Island, Queensland, Australia with a $25,000 ASP Grade-5 men’s event.

The complete list of Oakley Pro Junior dates on the 2010 schedule:

DATE GRADE LOCATION PRIZE
Feb 9-13 5M North Stradbroke Island, Qld-AUS $25,000
Apr 30-May 2 2M/ 1W Port Alfred-ZAF $10,000/ $5,000
May 4-8 2M Lower Trestles, Calif-USA $10,000
June 2-6 TBD Ubatuba City-BRA TBD
Aug 6-8 1M Tsurigasaki,Chiba-JPN $5,000
Aug 13-16 2M/ 1W Grand Plage, Lacanau, Gironde-FRA $10,000/ $5,000
Oct 2-13 WJT M/W Bali, IND $75,000/ $20,000

To learn more about the Oakley Pro Junior series and the Oakley World Junior Tour event, visit: oakleyprojunior.com

About Oakley, Inc.
The global leader in performance sunglasses, goggles and prescription eyewear, Oakley also offers technical and lifestyle apparel, footwear, watches and accessories. The company was created for athletes who see impossibility as just another challenge, and their dedication inspires Oakley to seek out problems, solve with innovation and wrap invention in art. Exceeding the limits of possibility for more than thirty years, Oakley serves the demands of world-class athletes with unbeatable technologies including High Definition Optics® (HDO®). Additional information is available at oakley.com

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Reaching more than two million enthusiasts, Source Interlink Media’s Action Sports Group (ASG) is the dominant force in the action sports and adventure sports arenas. In addition to publishing leading lifestyle publications such as Surfer, Surfing, Snowboarder, Skateboarder, Bike, Powder and Canoe & Kayak, Source Interlink Media’s ASG delivers a cutting-edge network of online properties, events and television programming.