In early May, six Illawarra collieries as well as a team from Coal Services put their best surfers forward to raise funds for local charities.

Coal workers from Xstrata's Tahmoor, Gujarat's NRE Colliery, Peabody Energy's Metropolitan colliery and three BHP Billiton mines – Appin West, West Cliff and Dendrobium – all took to the waves.

“The day went brilliantly – perfect conditions, perfect sunshine and fantastic surf, it was the best day we had in the three years,” event organiser Chris Bates told International Longwall News.

The competition was held at East Corrimal Beach and Bates said it was evident surfing stars were abundant among Illawarra coal workers, with a number of standouts for the day.

The overall winner for the second year in a row in the short board division was NRE’s Tully Robinson, with Xstrata’s Mark Spooner coming second and BHP West Cliff's Tyson Loemker third.

Peabody’s Jayce Pioli won the long board division with Peabody's Kevin Morton and Coal Services' Bill Morris coming second and third respectively.

The team title was won for the third year in a row by Peabody's Metropolitan Colliery.

Bates said the surfing event was about having fun but its prime purpose was to raise money for charity. This year’s donations resulted in the best fundraising in the competition’s history.

The competition raised $18,000 from direct donations and BHP Billiton matched every dollar raised out of its charity fund.

“So in essence we have raised $36,000,” Bates said.

The proceeds of the day were given to two charities in the Illawarra district, with the Disabled Surfers Association receiving $8000 and the Wollongong Operating Suite given $25,000.

“We were able to give exactly what we told the two charities and they are very thankful,” Bates said.

He added there are plans afoot to expand the surfing event in the future and he is hoping next year’s competition will include a team from the Newcastle coal district.

Competition results

Short board section

1st - Tully Robinson - NRE

2nd - Mark Spooner - Xstrata Tahmoor

3rd - Tyson Loemker – BHP West Cliff

4th - Wade Budd - Peabody Metropolitan

5th - Andrew Hyslop - Xstrata Tahmoor

6th - Luke Campbell - BHP West Cliff

Long board section

1st - Jayce Pioli - Peabody Metropolitan

2nd - Kevin Morton - Peabody Metropolitan

3rd - Bill Morris - Coal Services, Southern Mines Rescue

4th - Chris 'Snowy' Bate - Peabody Metropolitan

5th - Reece James - BHP Appin West

6th - Kane Morris - Xstrata Tahmoor