ORGANISERS of the Lake Macquarie Festival of Surfing have dubbed the inaugural event a huge success.
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Thousands of spectators flocked to Redhead's Little Beach to support the event as part of Surfest 2015. There was a strong emphasis on community involvement with activities such as the Redhead Community Trail; rock climbing and make-and-take craft thanks to Coastal Valley Girl Guides and live entertainment hosted by Redhead Men's Shed.
Surfest organiser Warren Smith said it was great to see the community jump on board.
"If you get the community involved they take ownership of [the event] and make it their own, which is fantastic," he said.
Smith said the event also ran smoothly on the beach.
The festival attracted a high calibre of surfers across nine divisions, including longboard, shortboard and stand-up paddleboard.
World longboard title runner-up Jye Byrnes, of Newcastle, won the Lake Mac Longboard Open.
Redhead's Matt Rawson clinched the over-40 Lake Mac Longboard Classic title after he won Surfest's under-50 Longboard Classic title in 2009.
Lake Macquarie Festival of Surfing results:
LAKE MAC LONGBOARD OPEN
1. JYE BYRNES
2. KAI ELLICE-FLINT
3. JOE RICKABOUGH
4. AARON HOWE
LAKE MAC LONGBOARD OVER-40
1. MATT RAWSON
2. MIKE PIMM
3. ADAM BAKER
4. DEBBIE ALLEN
LAKE MAC LONGBOARD OVER-50
1. RAY BLACKMANN
2. MIKE PIMM
3. PETER CHAPMAN
4. PAUL ROWETT
LAKE MAC SUP OPEN
1. HARRY MASKELL
2. GLENN TURNER
3. DYLAN HENRY
4. GARETH GRANT
LAKE MAC SUP OVER-40
1. GLENN TURNER
2. ANDREW CASSIDY
3. WARWICK GAMBLE
4. BLAIR MOORE
LAKE MAC SUP OVER-50
1. DAVID STRETTEN
2. PETER SHARP
3. HARRY GOLDSTEIN
LAKE MAC SUP UNDER-21
1. HARRY MASKELL
2. MATT EBRILL
3. JOSH STRETTEN
4. DYLAN HENRY
5. HANNAH FINLAY-JONES
6. MITCH EBRILL
LAKE MAC SHORTBOARD OVER-35
1. JUSTIN LEE
2. MATT JEFFERSON
3. SCOTT MYERS
4. PAUL SNOW
LAKE MAC SHORTBOARD OVER-40
1. JUSTIN LEE
2. PAUL SNOW
3. SCOTT MYERS
4. GLEN VALAIRE