46th annual Hyundai National Surfing Championships
Presented by Quiksilver

Surfing New Zealand
Gisborne New Zealand
12 - 19 January 2008

46th annual Hyundai National Surfing Championships Older Generation Step Up On Day One  

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 12 January, 2008 : - - The open men got the ball rolling on day one of the Hyundai National Surfing Championships presented by Quiksilver today (Saturday).  Sixteen heats were completed from first thing this morning at Gisborne’s Makorori Beach in 1.0m – 1.5m swell.  Conditions started out clean but quickly became affected by the strong sea breeze by mid morning. 

Standouts included many of the older faces of competitive surfing in New Zealand that, for one reason or another, have not been competing regularly on the Corona Crown Series in recent times. Ex Gisborne local, now Raglan resident, Chris Malone top scored for the day with a 15.5 point heat total.  His seamless surfing never ceases to drag in the big scores and today Malone made the most of the glassy surface conditions first thing this morning. 

His highest scoring wave of 8.50 was the best for the first round of the open men.  Malone is an ex New Zealand representative and also won the National Champs in 1998 when the event was held in Ahipara.  Malone will now meet another former champ in Damon Gunness (Gis) and Luke Hughes (Rag) in round two.

Gisborne brothers Reuben and Buck Woods both won their first round heats and in convincing fashion too with older brother Reuben scoring the higher of the two with a 14.00 point heat total out of a possible 20.  Reuben is based at Mount Maunganui while younger brother Buck is still based in Gisborne. 

Buck, who is in the New Zealand junior squad completed the move of the day when he pulled off a huge forehand air reverse in his heat.  The one move scored him an 8.0 point ride to progress in first place alongside fellow Gisborne surfer Jonas Te Aho.

1997 National Champion Andrew Robinson of Auckland fell straight back into the groove competing in his first national event in over two years.  “Yeah I felt totally comfortable out there, it felt great… like I had never left” commented Robinson after posting 14.25 points to win his heat. 

Another to return to the fray was Jai Earnshaw previously of Greymouth who now resides in Australia.  Earnshaw won the Under 18 Men’s national title the same year that Robinson won the open men’s.  Today Earnshaw made an emphatic start to the event by posting 13.25 to win his heat and move through to the second round.

Other standouts included Isaac Peterson (Tara) who was the second highest scorer of the day posting 14.8 in a high scoring affair with Raglan surfer Zennor Wernham who also moved through to the next round.  Dunedin’s Lynden Hutton made sure the South Island was also represented winning his first round heat against Phillip Ballantyne (Auck) and Jhia Stevens (Gis).

Doug Young (Chch), more known for his big wave surfing exploits be it at Papatowai in the South Island, Teahupoo in Tahiti or Jaws at Hawaii has made an unexpected showing at this years nationals. Not to be out done by his ‘small wave’ counterparts, Young surfed with his usual enthusiasm to win his heat with a score of 9.75. 

Both a live wire in and out of the water, Young is also entering in the senior men’s and longboard divisions to keep him busy throughout the eight day event. Late in the day the Quiksilver King of the Groms Under 16 Boys division was held.  The first round saw local surfer Johnny Hicks post a whopping 16.25 points in his heat to be the highest scorer of the day. 

Taranaki surfer Mark Pathemore also looked impressive when he posted 13.3 to win his heat over Reno Marriot (Gis), Cody Hale (Kaitaia) and Kane Stewart (Waihi Beach).  Thirteen year old Piha surfer Tane Wallis won his heat posting 12.9 to move though to the quarterfinals.  Others to impress with wins included Blake Myers (WGM), Moretti brothers Paul and Joe and Alex Dive (Mnt).

Conditions are expected to be similar for day two of the Hyundai National Surfing Championships presented by Quiksilver.  A decision on the location and order of events for day two will be made at 7am on Sunday morning. Complete lists of all National Champions are located on the Surfing New Zealand website under History surfingnz.co.nz

Previous reports:
# 1 : NZ's Hyundai Nat. Surfing Champs by Quiksilver all set
# 2 : Coming soon
# 3 : Coming soon
# 4 : Coming soon  

Surfing New Zealand are proudly partnered by Corona, Hyundai, SPARC & Smokefree.

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