Four years ago Millie Chalker was the only female to compete in the Port Macquarie Bodyboarding Association teams challenge.
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Less than half a decade later, the 19-year-old now has a posse of her girls helping to challenge the boys out in the water at the annual event.
Encouragingly the gap between them is closing and it's an exciting time for not only Chalker, but for female involvement in the sport.
"We thought the girls would be keen because the girls are always keen for stuff like this and trying different things," she said.
"So we sent a message out and saw who wanted to do it and it happened."
The Forster product has seen the growth of the female team increase to the point where they were able to field a full team of 10 riders in 2021.
Junior rider, Gemma McEnallay joined Chalker along with Nikki Rose, Holly King, Kaylah Pisani, Eveline Mussi, Deborah Partos, Milica Ivic, Erinn Welford and Cheryl Arnold.
And they've been competitive.
"Previously (the girls team) were never full, but they were always strong and it's really good because this year we've got a full girls team for the first time," she said.
"There are good vibes and everyone's really supportive that we can surf as a team rather than against each other because normally we're all surfing against each other.
"It's good now because we're all against everyone else."
Her hometown of Forster in particular has seen a strong growth in female participation in the sport and the Port Macquarie event was her favourite of the whole year due to its uniqueness.
"All the girls support each other and as we support each other we're getting more girls into (bodyboarding).
"From Forster there's been a lot of young girls start up in the last two years which has been really good."
The 2019 triple crown winner has been affected by the pandemic which has paused her ability to compete internationally with the focus now on finding any competitions around Australia.
"Last year was a bit of a non-event and there weren't a lot of events which kinda sucked but we were still in the water through lockdown because we're close enough to the beach which was lucky," she said.
"We've got the Jeff Wilcox Memorial in July in Forster which was the first proper competition I entered and it's at home and is my favourite event other than the teams challenge in Port.
"Nationals in August are in Port again and then the Matt Barron Memorial is on later in the year so it's about finding the comps around the east coast."
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