Blanchard among 24 still in women’s field

LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i’s Alana Blanchard remains in the hunt at the 2010 Drug Aware Pro from Margaret River, West Australia, as 24 of the best women surfers in the world go after the Six-Star Rated title.

Blanchard was to be in Heat No. 4 with competition scheduled to resume Thursday.

She will be paddling out with France’s Alizee Arnaud and Lee Ann Curren, as well as 2005 Association of Surfing Professionals Women’s Champion, Chelsea Hedges, from Australia.

Blanchard made it through with a score 10.43 in the Round of 48, as the only non-Australian in her heat. Laura Macaulay just outpointed her with a 10.94 session, but Amee Donohoe and Cystal Vail were unable to get going to challenge those two for advancement.

Also still alive is Hawai‘i’s Coco Ho, who will be in the water with the first group of the day in Heat No. 1. Joining her will be Australians Jessi Miley-Dyer and Felicity Palmateer, as well as South Africa’s Rossane Hodge.

Other notable remaining names include Australians Laura Enever, Sally Fitzgibbons and Tyler Wright.

Kaua‘i’s Nage Melamed made the trip for the competition, but did not survive her first heat as Australia’s Angela Keighran and American prodigy Courtney Conlogue put up scores of 12.00 and 11.74, respectively, to move on.

While production continues for the movie based on her life, Bethany Hamilton was knocked out in the Round of 48, with France’s Justine Dupont and American Erica Hosseini scraping out the higher scores.

On the men’s side, some Round of 48 heats were completed, though the majority still need to be decided.

Hawai‘i’s Kekoa Bacalso used a 14.17 score to move into the Round of 24.

Kaua‘i’s Roy Powers along with Hawai‘i’s Joel Centeio, Sunny Garcia and Dusty Payne are still alive, looking to advance out of the Round of 48.

For more information, go to www.drugawarepro.com.