Pro surfer Julian Wilson joins an impressive list of athletes on Nike's Livestrong team to raise awareness for cancer.



Julian, whose mom battled breast cancer when he was five, has been a big advocate of breast cancer awareness over the years.

"I was just a kid when she got diagnosed and I didn't understand what my mum went through and how scary it was until I got older. Given my position, it's easy for me to give a bit back and I enjoy doing it," says Wilson who was named ASP Rookie of the Year for 2011.

Over the last few years on the first ASP World Tour stop on the Gold Coast, the native Australian has donned pink boardshorts and rode a pink surfboard at the event.

He's also auctioned his surfboards (painted by his mom) to give money back to the National Breastcancer Foundation in Australia for which he serves as an ambassador.

"Cancer is such a powerful disease - it affects so many families," says Wilson.

"Ever since I started to raise awareness it's amazing how many friends and random people in the street come up to me and say someone in my family has cancer too. It is such a scary thing."
(Photo credit: Jimmy Lees)

Last year, Julian joined the Nike team alongside a list of athletic legends.

With Livestrong being under the Nike portfolio, it was a natural fit for Julian to get on board the Livestrong campaign this year as well.

"Nike is such a huge company and with Livestrong having the power of Nike and Lance Armstrong behind it, they have a lot of power to raise awareness. This is another great opportunity for me to be able to give back and help the fight against all types of cancer," says Wilson.

Recently, Julian joined Lance along with athletes like NFL star Larry Fitzgerald at the Nike HQ in Oregon this January to help celebrate Livestrong's 15th Anniversary.

He also filmed this video rocking a yellow wetsuit and the Livestrong yellow flag to shows his support.



Julian Wilson - LIVESTRONG from Nike Surfing on Vimeo.

"Really, I live such a blessed lifestyle and it's nothing to ask of me to be part of this. I am so lucky to be doing what I am doing and so thankful that I can give back and raise awareness for the cause."

In the long run this may be a war, but today the aerialists won the battle in Santa Cruz.

Due to a lagging South Swell, delays and lulls attempted to sour an otherwise great day of competition at the O'neill Cold Water Classic. Heats 1-12 of the first round were run at the fabled point at Steamer Lane.

The list of heat winners reads more like the Modern Collective cast plus the entire ...Lost/Mayhem team than a typical WQS heat sheet. Mason Ho, Ratboy, Cory Lopez, Kolohe Andino, Nate Yeomans, Davo, Luke Davis, Dusty Payne, Evan Geiselman, Julian WIlson, Wilko, Miguel Pupo. All moving on to Round Two after solid performances in head high rights at the Lane. Innovative surfing: rewarded.

A peaking South Swell should see competition resume tomorrow morning. Watch it here.

O'NEILL COLD WATER CLASSIC ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Mason Ho (HAW) 12.53, Jason Collins (USA) 12.10, Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 11.87, Alejo Muniz (BRA) 10.03
Heat 2: Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) 12.37, Cory Lopez (USA) 9.20, Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 7.24, Brent Dorrington (AUS) 4.83
Heat 3: Kolohe Andino (USA) 16.63, Richard Christie (NZL) 13.90, Michael Dunphy (USA) 9.93, Rudy Palmboom (ZAF) 9.06
Heat 4: Nathan Yeomans (USA) 14.90, Miguel Pupo (BRA) 13.23, Adam Robertson (AUS) 12.07, Sunny Garcia (AUS) 11.87
Heat 5: Shaun Joubert (ZAF) 13.10, Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 11.77, Gavin Gillette (HAW) 10.86, Jonathan Gonzalez (CNY) 9.37
Heat 6: Chris Davidson (AUS) 13.94, Hizunome Bettero (BRA) 12.50, Austin Ware (USA) 11.33, Tim Reyes (USA) 10.90
Heat 7: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 15.34, Willian Cardoso (BRA) 9.80, Brian Toth (PRI) 7.17, Roy Powers (HAW) 7.16
Heat 8: Luke Davis (USA) 15.37, Joel Centeio (HAW) 10.60, Alain Riou (PYF) 8.03, Nicholas Squires (AUS) 7.40
Heat 9: Nat Young (USA) 15.27, Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 13.30, Heath Joske (AUS) 12.24, Kevin Sullivan (HAW) 7.17
Heat 10: Dusty Payne (HAW) 15.67, Dion Atkinson (AUS) 13.84, Joan Duru (FRA) 11.73, Dale Staples (ZAF) 8.47
Heat 11: Evan Geiselman (USA) 11.50, Thiago Camarao (BRA) 11.07, Tanner Gudauskas (USA) 10.77, Jeronimo Vargas (BRA) 6.66
Heat 12: Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.47, Lincoln Taylor (AUS) 13.10, Mitch Crews (AUS) 12.86, Matt Myers (USA) 9.90

As we mentioned yesterday, a couple of Round Two heats on Thursday were so ridiculously stacked with A-listers that it's hard to believe this is only a Prime-rated event. Generally when such claims as 'superheat' are made the reality never lives up to the hype. Today was different.

There was no shortage of drama this morning, both 'superheats' came down to the wire. The waves were mediocre peaks again today, but plenty of rideable waves to be had.

Heat 6 saw Tanner Gudauskas, Alejo Muniz, Josh Kerr and Kelly Slater face off at 8am this morning. Tanner jumped out of the gates early with a 9 and a 7.33 within the first 13 minutes and never looked back. The battle for second would see Kerr and Slater trade places several times. As the heat expired it was Kerr needing a 6.48 behind Kelly. Josh caught a tiny wedge and threw a perfect pop-shuvit and headed to the inside, looking good to get the score if he could make the connection. The wave did not cooperate and fizzled out, leaving Kerrzy to wonder what if..

In heat 8, which was Dane, Julian, Kolohe, and Aritz Aranbaru, Kolohe got the early jump, nailing an 8.17 for an inverted backside air-reverse, and quickly backed it up with a 5.67 for a frontside blow-tail on the outside, and looked like he would easily take the heat.

Then Dane Reynolds woke up about midway through the heat. He caught an average left wedge and proceeded to pull a huge backside full rotation air-reverse for a 9.33, the highest wave score of the day. He then backed that up with an 8.1 o get the highest heat total of the day, and a dominant victory.

Meanwhile the other three surfers were slowly building scores, all three needing mid range scores to advance behind Dane. Aritz caught (and claimed) a decent left where he did a sliding reverse on the outside and connected the remaining dots into the shorebreak. The judges gave him a 7.57, putting him .06 above Kolohe. With under ten seconds left, Andino found a hail mary wedge and was able to crush it to the beach for a 7.5 and the last second win. The kid showed no signs of the nerves you'd expect for such a young fellow surfing against his heroes.

The matchups for Round Three are shaping up to be just as intriguing. Check it out live here.

Photo: Kolohe Andino arriving for his heat against Dane Reynolds, Julian Wilson and Aritz Aranburu.

And then there were 8.

After an exciting day 5 of massive shacks at Surfer's Beach in Ballito, the 4 quarterfinal heats have been set.

The already pulsing swell that had competitors scrambling for a bigger board yesterday, was still stacking lines to the horizon this morning, and with more favorable winds today, there were some serious bombs out there.

The 3-man non-elimination heats of round 4 were sent out in the early morning light as Ballito did it's best Backdoor Pipeline impression. Defending event champion Jordy Smith continued his march through this year's draw with another emphatic win in heat 2. Jordy stroked into on of the biggest caverns of the day and drove through a winding barrel, emerging just as the lip detonated around him for a 9.8, the highest score of the day. He would win the heat and advance straight into the quarterfinals.

John John Florence had the heat of the day, however, and considering the type of waves in question and the young Hawaiian's mastery of Backdoor, it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. The skinny blonde kid absolutely charged today, securing an 18.43 heat total. His best wave was a 9.5 for a late air-drop straight into a big slab and emerged clean a couple hundred feet down the point.

After the 4 round 4 heats, the 'loser's' round 5 begun in the still firing conditions.

Pat Gudauskas barely squeeked past Australia's Kieren Perrow with a 9.4 near the end of their heat for a screaming barrel ride and a spot in the quarters.

Julian Wilson took his opportunity for redemption after a close defeat in round 4. Wilson secured the highest heat total of the round, 15.53 to easily eliminate Brazilian Jano Belo.

Competition should finish tonight starting at 10:30pm on the West Coast, watch it live here.

Non-Elimination Round of 12:
Heat 1: Junior Faria (BRA) 12.83; Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 11.44; Jesse Mendes(BRA) 5.20pts
Heat 2: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.97; Shaun Joubert (ZAF) 5.03; Kieren Perrow(AUS) 4.40pts
Heat 3: Heath Joske (AUS) 15.40; Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.24; Blake Thornton(AUS) 10.20
Heat 4: John John Florence (HAW) 18.43; Kai Otton( AUS) 15.23; Jano Belo(BRA) 2.00

Elimination Round of 12
Heat 1: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 13.90 def Kieren Perrow (AUS) 13.44
Heat 2: Jesse Mendes (BRA) 13.50 def Shaun Joubert (ZAF) 12.26
Heat 3: Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.53 def Jano Belo (BRA) 9.00
Heat 4: Blake Thornton (AUS) 8.37 def Kai Otton (AUS) 7.84

Upcoming Heats

Quarterfinals
QF 1: Junior Faria (BRA) vs Patrick Gudauskas (USA)
QF 2: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs Jesse Mendes (BRA)
QF 3: Heath Joske (AUS) vs Julian Wilson (AUS)
QF 4: John John Florence (HAW) vs Blake Thornton (AUS)

Modern Collective composer Kai Neville has just dropped the first trailer for his latest full-length creation LOST ATLAS. The film was put together in under a year with the original MC cast, like Dusty, Dane, Jordy, Mitch, Yadin, supplemented with hot young boys Kolohe Andino, Craig Anderson, Julian Wilson, Evan Geiselman, etc etc. The cast for this film is a pretty good snapshot of progression in surfing at this moment in time. Cannot wait to see her in all her glory...



LOST ATLAS - TRAILER from Kai Neville Studio on Vimeo.