Surfer Magazine’s Oakley Surf Shop Challenge

Now in its eighth incarnation of the new millennium, the ultimate surf shop team challenge is coming to a beach near you this summer. From Kewalos to New Smyrna Beach, with SEVEN regional events and a $10,000 winner-take-all championship scheduled to hit the Action Sports Industry’s back yard at Huntington Beach Pier September, the Oakley Surf Shop Challenge is ready to showcase brilliant local talent.

Originally conceived to provide a fun, competitive format to the hardest of the hardcore surf shop surf teams, the SURFER Shop Team Challenge was one of the most anticipated contest events of the early 1980s. Taking place exclusively in Southern California, the Shop Challenge was an annual opportunity to put sales numbers aside and settle the score in the water.

Bridging the gap from that era of pink wetsuits and ’80s music, the Shop Challenge has now emerged as one of the hottest contest circuits all year. You think those pros went hard back in the day? Put a colored jersey on a shop rat, give him 15 minutes to release all that energy pent up from sitting behind the counter, mix in the already-intense regional competition between surf shops, and you have all the makings of a battle royale.

Last year, it was North Carolina’s Sweetwater Surf Shop that took the coveted grand prize. This summer, invigorated by the overwhelming success of the last five years, the Shop Challenge is back. And with shops lining up to enter, Surf Ride is hungry to defend their title.

The competition will be fierce as more than 70 teams compete across four regions for a chance to take the glory home for their shop. If that’s not motivation enough, the winning team from each of the seven regions (Maine to New Jersey, Virgina to the Outer Banks, Texas to Georgia, LA and Orange Counties, San Diego, and Hawaii) gets to duke it out for the overall title during the Championships this September for a $10,000 winner-take-all prize purse and bragging rights over the entire country.

CHAMPIONSHIP PRIZES
• $10,000 CASH PRIZE TO OVERALL CHAMPION

REGIONAL PRIZES
Each regional champion receives:
• Expense paid trip to the National Championships in California
• Custom Oakley Sunglasses
• Free full-page shop profile in SURFER Magazine
• 59 custom, winning shop designed, New Era Caps
• Muscle Milk fridge and 3 month supply of Muscle Milk Product

Other Prizes include:
• Oakley product
• New Era Caps
• Bubble Gum Surf Wax
• Muscle Milk
• Firewire Surfboards
• AND MORE …

Surfer Magazine’s Oakley Surf Shop Challenge would also like to thank its roster of supporting sponsors: New Era Caps, Muscle Milk, ASR, Bubble Gum Surf Wax, Buell Wetsuits and Firewire Surfboards.

For more information please contact Scott Kendall at Surfer Magazine.
scott.kendall@sorc.com
PH: 949.325.6150

For more information on Format and Rules of the Oakley Surf Shop Challenge, click here.