Bay of Plenty team win NZ Scholastic Championships..
Bay of Plenty winning team : photosmarkstevenson.com
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
TEN YEARS IN THE MAKING FOR BAY OF PLENTY TEAM AS TIM OCCONNOR LEADS THEM TO VICTORY
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 22 April, 2006 : - - Bay of Plenty has won the 2006 Smokefree National Scholastic Surfing Championships – a five day event held at St Clair Beach Dunedin this week. Bay of Plenty last won the title in 1996 and is one of only four regions to have won the title in the events eighteen year history. On finals day it was Under 18 surfer Tim O’Connor who lead the team to victory with a stellar performance scoring 16.0, a score only surpassed at this event by him in the first round. The surf was the best it had been over the five days with a solid 1.0m – 1.5m swell and offshore winds making conditions perfect.
Bay of Plenty had two finalists in the Under 18 Boys and had they been toppled by Gisborne’s Richard Christie, the title would have gone back to Gisborne for the third year running. However Tim O’Connor looked strong from the outset first posting a 7.75 and then an excellent 8.25 leaving the other three finalists sitting out the back waiting for the perfect wave. Richard Christie tried valiantly to win for his team but had to settle for second place still scoring an impressive 14.45 out of a possible 20. Jos Hadfield placed third after scoring some great rides to post 12.55 and by placing third secured his teams win. Conan James (Tara) was the sole goofy-foot surfer in the final and placed fourth amongst some top talent to hold the Taranaki team in fourth position overall.
Mischa Davis grabbed Auckland’s lone title in the Under 18 Girls division. After recently returning from Australia where she is based and competes regularly, Davis appeared to have an edge to her surfing that impressed the judges. On her forehand Davis surfed vertically and tight in the pocket of the wave to score a total of 10.75 – her top score being a 6.0. Jessica Welch started strongly scoring the highest wave of the final – a 7.25. From there she could not capitalise on her position and had to settle for second. Paige Hareb (Tara) became wave starved in the final as was Laura Rishworth, the two girls finishing third and fourth respectively.
Paco Divers was the sole Northland surfer competing on the final day and he didn’t disappoint in the Under 16 Boys as he strategically surfed away from the other surfers opting for the longer more powerful right-handers up the beach. Divers surfed several explosive waves with his best two scoring 8.25 and 8.0 – considered excellent ridden waves under the judging criteria. Divers looked powerful in his surfing completing big turns with massive amounts of spray coming from his board. Ryan Hawker (Auck) was always in the hunt after posting 7.0 on his first wave but the better waves never came his way in the second half of the final and he ultimately needed a near perfect 9.26 point ride to win the final. Bay of Plenty’s Matt Hewitt followed Divers to the right-handers later in the heat scoring 6.25 on his best wave but had to settle for third place ahead of Keone Campbell (Tara) in fourth.
West Coast picked up their first ever Scholastic title through a committed performance from Anna Hawes. Hawes stylishly surfed through the final posting a total heat score of 8.75 after she caught some of the best waves of the final. Gisborne’s Ariana Roberts was called for interference in the final which pushed her back to third behind Maddy Phillips (Auck) who took on some of the biggest waves in the final. Fellow team mate Annie Stuart finished in fourth place.
New Zealand representative Johnnie Hicks (Gis) fought off Karne Pitcher (Coro) to win the Under 14 Boys in the closest battle of the day. Hicks lead from the outset but it was a late comeback from Pitcher that had the Gisborne team worried as he surfed to a 6.20 on his last wave, just short of the required 676 for the win. Dark horse Mark Parthmore (Tara) surfed his way to third in the final posting 10.0 to beat Landem Collier (Gis) into fourth place.
Grace Spiers secured Coromandel’s only title at the event taking out the Under 14 Girls in convincing fashion with a whopping heat score of 15.75. Spiers opted to surf the lefthander running into the corner of St Clair giving her the easy paddle back out to the take off. It paid off as other competitors got caught on the inside. Spiers posted a highest score of 8.0 on one wave with her total leaving fellow competitors requiring two wave combinations to take the lead. Alexis Poulter (Auck) placed second scoring 10.50 to push team mate Rosa Thompson into third and Alexa Halvorsen (BOP) finished in fourth.
Jos Hadfield earlier surfed his way to a win in the Kneeboard final. Kneeboarding is a discipline that Hadfield competes in on the side of his surfing and his efforts paid off at this event as he won out over 2005 event champion Kelvin Wier (Tara). Otago surfers Luke Grubb and Sam McCutchsen placed third and fourth.
Host region Otago had their success through Under 18 Bodyboard surfer Robbie Burns who rode to victory early in the days proceedings. It was Burns’ last wave at the end of the final that scored him 7.75 to move him from third to first. Defending champion Ahipene Newby (Gis) had to settle for second this year after being pipped at the post. West Coast’s Ben McPaike was also unlucky not to pick up the regions second title of the event after leading for much of the final but ultimately finishing in third ahead of Taranaki’s Kelvin Weir.
Under 16 Bodyboard surfer Luke Elliot picked up Bay of Plenty’s third title of the event scoring 14.50 in the final to easily beat Canterbury’s Liam Blanchfield into second place with Waikato brothers Kurt and Josh Randell finishing in third and fourth respectively.
Full results from the final day of surfing are set out below.
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.
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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