2006 Smokefree National Scholastic Surfing Champs.
Smokefree National Scholastic Surfing Championships featuring Quiksilver’s King of the Groms
Surfing New Zealand Boys and Girls U18, U16 and U14, U18 and U16 Bodyboard, U18 Kneeboard St Clair Beach, Dunedin, NZ 18 – 22 April 2006
SMOKEFREE SCHOLASTIC SURFING CHAMPS FEATURING QUIKSILVERS KING OF THE GROMS
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 17 April, 2006 : - - The 2006 Smokefree National Scholastic Surfing Championships featuring Quiksilver’s King of the Groms attacks the southern waters of Dunedin this week. One hundred and forty ‘schoolies’ will be looking to take home one of nine titles on offer over the week. As we sit over St Clair Beach this morning (Monday), the break is seething with New Zealand’s best young surfers getting in last minute practice and familiarising themselves with the break. The ‘Scholastics’ forms part of Dunedin’s festival of surfing that featured the South Island Champs over Easter weekend and is followed by a junior event on the 24th – 25th of April.
The ‘Scholastics’ is a unique event in New Zealand where surfers have to first qualify through regional titles and then surf in a teams environment for one of 12 regions at national level. The vibe around the event is always amazing with team members cheering on their mates as they vie for personal triumph as well as points to go toward their team rankings.
This years event is being contested only two weeks prior to the World Junior Championships scheduled for early May in Brazil. The New Zealand team members will be using the event as part of their final preparation for the event. Defending Under 18 Scholastic Champion Richard Christie (Gis) will want to claim another title to go with the three he already has under his belt. Christie will be the form surfer after recently coming back from competing in international events in Australia and winning the Open and Junior Men’s divisions of the South Island Champs on Sunday.
Other surfers who will arrive at the event brimming with confidence will be New Zealand representatives Tim O’Connor (BOP), Paige Hareb (Tara), Mischa Davis (Auck) and Wini Paul (Nrth). All four surfers are currently making their way back from Australia after competing in international events. O’Connor and Hareb were finalists at the GromSearch held in conjunction with the WCT Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach. Hareb placed the better of the two with a third place in the girls division. Both Davis and Paul have won through to the last 16 surfers of the Pro Junior Division of the Sunshine Coast’s Easter Surf Festival and Davis is also competing in the Open Women’s Division at the same event.
The Under 16 Boys Division of the ‘Scholastics’ has a huge added bonus this year with the inclusion of the Quiksilver King of the Groms. This means that the top ranked Under 15 surfers will get to surf off in a separate final to crown New Zealand’s King of the Groms. The winner receives entry and all expenses paid trip to the international final in France. There he will compete as New Zealand’s sole representative on the world stage and will surf it out for international honours against 47 other grommets from around the world in a competition format that mirrors that of the elite Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour (WCT).
The ultimate winner receives a prize unlike any other – guaranteed trials slots into three of the biggest WCT competitions in the world; the Quiksilver Pro France, the Quiksilver Pro Japan and the Quiksilver Pro Australia.
The 2006 Smokefree Scholastics will run over five days commencing tomorrow (Tuesday). The finals of all nine divisions and prize giving will be staged on Saturday. Quiksilver’s King of the Groms will be completed on Friday with the ‘King’ being crowned and awarded his trip to France.
Smokefree National Scholastic Surfing Championships Background
The event is being hosted by Southcoast Boardriders in conjunction with Otago Scholastic Surfing. The Scholastics has been running since 1989 where it was first held in Raglan and used as a selection event for the New Zealand Junior Team to contest the World Junior Champs. Since then the NZ Junior Team has been selected from a number of events but the prestige of the Scholastics has remained and to this day the event is as unique as ever on the New Zealand surfing calendar.
Recent National Scholastic Champions are as follows.
Under 18 Men 2000 – Felix Dickson (Ota) 2001 – Dan Scott (Cor) 2002 – Ben Hawker (Auck) 2003 – Owen McMillan (Gis) 2004 – Luke Hughes (Gis) 2005 – Richard Christie (Gis)
Under 18 Women 2000 – Jess Terrill (Tara) 2001 – Jess Santorik (Wai) 2002 – Kelly Clarkson (Wai) 2003 – Hester Sutherland-Stacey (BOP) 2004 – Clare Thomsen (Gis) 2005 – Daisy Thomas (Cant)
Under 16 Men 2000 – Bobby Hansen (Gis) 2001 – 2002 – Owen McMillan (Gis) 2003 – Richard Christie (Gis) 2004 – Richard Christie (Gis) 2005 – Paco Divers (Nth)
Under 14 Boys 2000 – Nathan Welch (Gis) 2001 – 2002 – Kierin Van Der Helder (Wai) 2003 – Billy Stairmand (Rag) 2004 – Ryan Hawker (Auck) 2005 – Ryan Hawker (Auck)
Under 18 Bodyboard 2000 – Sam Wells (Cant) 2001 – 2002 – Rio Cartmen (Auck) 2003 – Matt Fever (Ota) 2004 – Floyd Smith (Auck) 2005 – Ahipene Newby (Gis)
Under 16 Bodyboard 2000 – Rio Cartmen 2001 – 2002 – Ahipene Newby (Gis) 2003 – Floyd Smith (Auck) 2004 – Simon Bennett (Tara) 2005 – Brigham Martin (Wai)
Under 18 Kneeboard 2000 – 2001 – 2002 – Mitchell Davies 2003 – Jos Hadfield (BOP) 2004 – Jos Hadfield 2005 – Kelvin Weir
For more information on the event please contact Ben Kennings on 021 2278732 or benkennings@surfingnz.co.nz.
The 2006 National Scholastic Surfing Championships is sponsored by Smokefree and features Quiksilver’s King of the Groms. The event would be not possible without the support of Surfing New Zealand, Southcoast Boardriders and Otago Scholastic Surfing.
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