Billabong Grom Series Event Three
Presented by Oceanbridge

Surfing New Zealand
Piha Beach, Auckland New Zealand
17 - 18 March 2007

Hawker At Home In Horrendous Conditions

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 18 March, 2007 : - -  Local Piha surfer Ryan Hawker conquered horrendous conditions in the last final of the day to win the under 16 boys division in the third event of the Billabong Grom Series presented by Oceanbridge Sunday. 

Conditions at the beginning of the day were average with 1.5m wind affected waves but that built throughout the morning until early afternoon when the surf had doubled in size making it nearly unsurfable with the howling onshore winds.  Hawker managed to hold his position out the back of the waves to ensure that he got two good scores and came in with a couple of minutes to spare after surfing to an 8.0 point ride on his last wave.

Hawker missed the second leg of the Billabong Grom Series and as such was out of the running to win the series.  However today he jumped from 22nd to 6th on the ratings, challenging the best of the rest on only two results.  Hawker will compete in the Occy Grom Comp on the Gold Coast later in the year and will do so alongside second place getter and series winner Matt Hewitt (Mnt) who won the airfare and entry that were up for grabs yesterday when his closest rival Braedon Williams was a shock elimination. 

Hewitt along with the other two finalists Tyler Anderson (Tara) and Ryan Heath (WGM) battled with the dangerous conditions.  At one stage all three surfers ended up on the inside reform before returning to the beach and reluctantly running back around the beach to attack the massive conditions one more time.  In a sign of tremendous courage all three surfers re-entered the line up each surfing great waves to finish the final.  Anderson got the best of the final exchange to place third ahead of Heath in fourth.

The under 16 girls also courageously tackled the huge surf attempting to paddle out the back and into the massive ocean swells.  Alexis Poulter (Piha) fared best posting the first of two wins for the day.  Nicola Colson-Koster (Auck) took the wipe out of the event not quite getting into one wave early enough only to be thrown over the edge of a huge wave and slammed onto the flat. 

Colson-Koster managed to shake it off and stay out for remainder of the heat to finish fourth behind second place getter Rosa Thompson (Auck) and India Wray Murane (Mur) who finished third.  Thompson with her second place did enough to win the trip to Australia.

Tane Wallis (Piha) scored an excellent 8.0 point ride on his first wave of the under 14 boys final and from then on, with quickly deteriorating conditions, he was going to be tough to beat.  The task finally proved too extreme for closest rival Ben Poulter (Piha) as he took beating after beating in the ‘washing machine’ type conditions. 

Tane Wallis finally backed up his first wave with a 3.50 which was enough to win and secure a trip to Australia.  Ben Poulter had to settle for a frustrating second place with Todd Doyle (Mnt) in third and first time finalist Fraser Chatham (WGM) in fourth place.

Alexis Poulter previously from Piha but now residing in Raglan showed that she had lost none of her home town advantages in the move down the coast when she won the under 14 girls final with the highest heat score of the day.  Her 16.25 point heat total combo’d the other four surfers in the final and secured the Panasonic digital camera for the final event of the series. 

She caught two big waves out the back with her best wave comprising of powerful backhand turns scoring 8.75.  Rosa Thompson (Auck) also tackled the big waves out the back and her efforts paid off placing second.  The remaining three girls chose to surf the ditch where the waves were a little smaller and safer and it was Ella Williams (WGM) that placed third ahead of Northland girls Ellen Koland and Brydie Coluquon in fourth and fifth respectively.

At the start of the day the under 12 boys division was down to a three horse race for the ticket to Australia but by the final it was down to two surfers – Kahu Te Ranga (Waihi Beach) and Peri Matenga (Mnt).  The surfer who placed the highest would win and it was Peri Matenga who came out the victor with a commanding performance to secure his first win of the series and the trip to Aussie. 

Matenga caught two good waves out the back and edged out the hardy efforts of Kahu Craig Te Ranga who also braved the big conditions to narrowly place second.  Standout surfer in the semifinals was Paul Moretti (Mimiwhangata) but he could not repeat his form in the final and finished in fourth place one behind local surfer Elliot Paerata Reid who placed third for his best result of the season.