THE annual Cooge Classic surfing contest was held at Gillards Beach last weekend.

Each year the Tathra Sunshine Club hosts the event which is held in honour of late local surfing champion Bruce “Cooge” Meaker.

The club is for surfing and board riders that were established in Tathra years ago.

The Cooge Classic is a great social occasion which concluded with a presentation night including live music on Sunday evening.

Money raised from entry fees assists the club in holding the event each year.

As a local non-profit club they also donate some of the benefits to other community groups and organisations.

The Meaker family were present for the two-day event with Caleb and Chrystal handing out the awards to major winners.

Tathra Sunshine Club president Tim Browne said it was a successful event.

“It went really well and we’re very happy with it again,” he said.

“We were blessed with good weather and waves all weekend and there were plenty of people there which is great to see.

“I thank the Meaker family for their continued support and the competitors for making it a great weekend.”

Browne said he was excited to see Otton back for the weekend.

“It was good to see Kai back supporting us again,” he said.

“I think it’s always nice to see him take some time off from his busy schedule for us.”

Winner of the 2009 point-score shield was Ryan Hanrahan with 104.5 points.

Hanrahan is a Sydney-based surfer who was born and bred in the Bega Valley.

Rod Collier was runner-up with 97.5 pts, narrowly edging out teenager Todd Dixon.

The Cooge Board was won by Brad Woods who surfed for the Green Team.

The event was separated into seven divisions for competitors of all ages and started with the youngest grade, the micro grams, which was taken out by Jai McCabe from Ollie Clarke.

The cadet’s division winner was Morgan Smith from Kai Dixon and Rory Ridell.

Dixon took out the junior’s class from Jake Clark while Jesse Jamieson took out the girl’s grade and Chloe Jamieson finished runner-up.