<strong>Tiago Pires, Frederico Morais, Vasco Ribeiro and Nathan Hedge (wildcard) are also attending the barrel-oriented competition at the iconic Carcavelos Beach</strong>

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CASCAIS (January 14, 2015) – The 4th annual Allianz Perfect Chapter powered by Billabong voting period ended yesterday, leading up to the <strong>16 final contenders</strong>. With a holding period raging from <strong>January 15<sup>th</sup> to March 15<sup>th</sup></strong>, the original one-day Portuguese surfing contest will take place at the iconic <strong>Carcavelos Beach</strong>, in Cascais, gathering some of the <strong>best tube riders in the world</strong> for a full day of competition in perfect, hollow waves.

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As in the previous editions, Allianz Perfect Chapter powered by Billabong 2015 final invitees were <strong>chosen by the people</strong> through an online voting system allowing surf fans around the world to vote for their favorite waveriders under four different categories: <em>Competitors</em>, <em>Free Surfers</em>, <em>Soul Surfers</em> (these three featuring Portuguese athletes only) and <strong><em>International Surfers</em></strong>. The 40 names up for polling have been pre-selected by the event organizers in association with a Committee of Experts holding a profound knowledge of the world surfing scene.

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This year, for the first time in the event history, people were given the unique opportunity to choose <strong>three (3) non-Portuguese surfers</strong> to take part in the competition alongside with Portuguese barrel masters.

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Internationally known for their tube riding skills, <strong>Aritz Aranburu</strong>, <strong>Pedro Vianna “Scooby”</strong> and <strong>Ricardo dos Santos</strong> were the most voted surfers under the <em>International Surfers</em> category, and are thus among the 16 men having a shot at becoming the new Allianz Perfect Chapter powered by Billabong champion.

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Australian surfer <strong>Nathan Hedge</strong> is also attending the contest as the organization decided to assign him the <strong>Rescue Wildcard</strong>, meant to “rescue” one of the athletes left out by the public.

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This means we will soon be watching Aranburu, Scooby, dos Santos and Hedge riding <strong>massive barrels</strong> and battling for the <strong>7500€</strong> 1<sup>st</sup> place check at Carcavelos Beach alongside with a handful of renowned Portuguese surfers, including former World Tour (current World Surfing League) member <strong>Tiago Pires</strong>, current world junior champ <strong>Vasco Ribeiro</strong> and 2013 Triple Crown Rookie of The Year <strong>Frederico Morais</strong>.

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<strong>José Ferreira</strong>, <strong>Miguel Blanco</strong>, <strong>Marlon Lipke</strong>, <strong>Francisco Alves</strong>, <strong>João Guedes</strong>, <strong>Ruben Gonzalez</strong> and <strong>Alexandre Ferreira </strong>are also among 2015 Perfect Chapter final runners according to people’s choice.

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These 14 men will be joining the fanatic swell chaser <strong>Nic von Rupp</strong> (winner of the previous edition wildcard) and former European champ <strong>Rodrigo Herédia</strong> (local wildcard) once the contest is called on.

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The event’s waiting period begins tomorrow and concludes on <strong>March 15<sup>th</sup></strong>, surfers being notified of the event status within only a <strong>72 hours</strong>’ notice. If any of the invitees is to be unavailable, they must withdrawal from the competition and be replaced by the following surfers on polling rankings, regarding the number of votes per category.

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Thus, the event alternates are: <strong>Tomás Fernandes, Gony Zubizarreta</strong>, <strong>João Kopke</strong> and <strong>Pedro Henrique</strong> (under the <em>Competitors</em> category); <strong>Alex Botelho</strong>, <strong>António Silva</strong>, <strong>Filipe Jervis Pereira</strong>, <strong>Tomás Valente</strong>, <strong>Ivo Cação</strong>, <strong>Edgar Nozes</strong> and <strong>Pedro Boonman</strong> (under the <em>Free Surfers</em> category); <strong>João Macedo</strong>, <strong>Tiago Oliveira</strong>, <strong>Joackim Guichard</strong>, <strong>Belmiro Mendes</strong>, <strong>André Pedroso</strong>, <strong>José Gregório</strong>, <strong>Luca Guichard</strong>, <strong>Jó Bento</strong> and <strong>Paulo Rodrigues</strong> (under the <em>Soul Surfers</em> category); and <strong>Bruno Santos</strong>, <strong>Cory Lopez</strong>, <strong>Maxime Huscenot</strong>, <strong>Elohe Ali Alvarez</strong>, <strong>Kiron Jabour</strong> e <strong>Jérôme Sahyoun</strong> (under the <em>International Surfers</em> category).

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If all four alternates under the <em>Competitors</em> category are to be unavailable once the contest is called on, the replacement process moves forward to the next category, qualifying the following free surfer alternate who is not already replacing a free surfer invitee. If <em>Free Surfers</em> category runs out of substitutes, soul surfer alternates will be called in, once again according to the number of votes.

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Ultimately, if Nathan Hedge won’t be able to make it, the organization will be assigning his wildcard to the following surfer under the “rescue list”, namely and by this order, <strong>Filipe Jervis Pereira</strong>, <strong>Edgar Nozes</strong> e <strong>Ivo Cação</strong>.

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With a <strong>15.000€</strong> prize money, Allianz Perfect Chapter powered by Billabong will gather surfers from different countries and generations at the best waves the Portuguese coast has to offer. The event is meant to be held in <strong>perfect barrels</strong>, featuring a several weeks waiting period over which surfing forecast will be closely monitored by <strong>Surfline</strong> experts to make sure the event goes down on the best day of the European winter (offering the best barreling conditions).

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The Allianz Perfect Chapter powered by Billabong is sponsored by Allianz, the Municipality of Cascais, Billabong, Kia, MOCHE and MEO and it’s associated with the media partners RTP, Fuel TV, Jornal i, Mega Hits, SURFPortugal e SurfTotal.

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<strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">ALLIANZ PERFECT CHAPTER POWERED BY BILLABONG INVITEES</span></strong>

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Frederico Morais (competitor)

Vasco Ribeiro (competitor)

Tiago Pires (competitor)

José Ferreira (competitor)

Miguel Blanco (competitor)

Marlon Lipke (competitor)

Francisco Alves (free surfer)

João Guedes (free surfer)

Ruben Gonzalez (free surfer)

Alexandre Ferreira (soul surfer)

Aritz Aranburu (international surfer)

Pedro Scooby (international surfer)

Ricardo dos Santos (international surfer)

Nicolau von Rupp (wildcard vencedor da edição anterior)

Rodrigo Herédia (wildcard local)

Nathan Hedge (rescue wildcard)

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