Smokefree National Scholastic Surf Champs

Surfing New Zealand
Opunake, Taranaki New Zealand
29 April - 3 May 2008

Scintillating Surfing Scares Storm Away

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 29 April, 2008 : - - The Smokefree National Scholastic Surfing Champs got off to a scintillating start at Opunake, Taranaki today.  New Zealand’s top school age surfers scared off any sign of the predicted heavy rain and thunder storms with exceptional surfing at ‘The Dump’. 

Gisborne’s star studded team dominated proceedings with Buck Woods, Adam Cranston and Johnny Hicks all locking in big first round wins while the Coromandel team was the only team to have all surfers progress directly to the second round.

Surfers enjoyed 1.5m waves fanned by offshore winds on day one of the event.  The Smokefree Scholastics runs for five days this week finishing on Saturday (3rd May).  Twelve regional teams from the length of New Zealand comprising over 120 surfers are in Opunake to contest the countries most prestigious junior surfing event in it’s twentieth year.

Buck Woods opened up the day in fine form with a 9.0 point ride in the first heat of the day.  Woods used his lightning speed to fly around several sections and complete three big power turns before finishing the wave on the inside.  Woods then posted another 6.33 point ride to move through to the second round.

“Yeah I am pretty happy with that score to start off the competition” commented Woods on his performance. “I was just trying to do different combinations of turns and smash it as hard as I could” added Woods referring to his 9.0 point ride. 

Woods progressed alongside Hawkes Bay surfer Christo Gilbert in second place with Haami Savage (Gis) in third.  Savage moved through to the requalifying rounds where he had a ‘walkthrough’ heat to make his way back into the main round.

Woods was one of six Gisborne surfers to progress through to the second round in either the under 18 boys or under 16 boys.  Adam Cranston was another to post a big score with 15.00 in his heat.  Cranston progressed alongside Robert Courian (BOP) in second with Jimmy Crooks (Ota) in third.

Cranston was confident his team would press on toward a title this year.  Gisborne are the most successful team in the history of the event winning the title eight times.  “Yeah we are pretty confident of taking the title, we are all through so far today, yeah we should do well” commented Cranston.  The Gisborne team last won the event in 2005 coincidentally when the event was last held in Taranaki.

The Taranaki team also claimed victory in several heats today.  Leading from the front were under 18 surfers Michael Mallalieu and Tyler Anderson.  Mallalieu scored 15.33 to win his heat “Yeah it was pretty fun out there.  I had a really slow start but then a few sets of waves pulsed through and I got a couple in the end” commented Mallalieu who progressed alongside team mate Sean Parker, together eliminating Waikato surfer Emmit Holmes-O’Connor.

In the under 16 boys it was New Zealand representative Johnny Hicks (Gis) that surfed to the highest heat score of the day – 16.83 out of a possible 20 points.  On his backhand, Hicks went vertical on several manoeuvres to score individual wave scores of 8.83 and 8.00.  Another surfer to excel was New Plymouth boy Mark Pathemore who scored 15.00 to win his heat over Darcy Bowden (Nrth), Sid West (Auck) and Jai Forsyth (WC).

Other under 16 boys division surfers to win their heats included number one seed Alex Dive (BOP), Reno Marriott (is), Jacob Kohn (Gis),  Cody McCusker (Cant), Blake Myers (Coro), Joe Moretti (Nrth), James Tume (Wgtn) and Tyler Lawson (HBay).

Bay of Plenty, the defending event champions had a good day also with their top surfers moving through to the second round.  The Courian twins (Robert and John) moved through to the second round of the under 18 boys division. 

Alex Dive was a standout in the under 16 boys division.  However they did loose fellow under 16 surfer Todd Doyle and under 18 girls surfer Mikayla Zandstra to the requalifying rounds.  Bay of Plenty are gunning for their third straight title in 2008 to equal Waikato as the second most successful team at the Smokefree Scholastics.

Regional Roundup

Northland
Defending under 18 boys champion Paco Divers won through his heat with some incredibly fast surfing.  Under 16 boys surfer Joe Moretti also won his heat and Oliver Bone progressed to the second round also.  However they did lose Kieran Pullman and Todd Hale to the requalifying rounds.

Auckland
An up and down day with Tim Thompson leading the way in the under 18s and Sammy Love and Dylan Pidgeon moving though in second place.  Unfortunately they lost Stefan Gross and Sid West to the requalifying rounds.

Waikato
India Wray-Murane stormed to the second highest score of the day in the under 18 girls division (16.33) to move through to the last eight.  Adam Thorley Symes and Haami Martin also moved through their heats but the team lost three surfers to the requalifying rounds.

Coromandel
The only team with a clean slate – all seven surfers competing on day one moving straight through to the second round.  They included Grace Spiers, Fraser Chatham, Braedon Williams, Maddy Thomas, Blake Myers, Brad Pitcher and Fintan Cram.

Bay of Plenty
Alex Dive as always looking smooth and only reinforced further when he gets the chance to surf righthand point breaks.  The Courian brothers looked just as smooth but the team lost Todd Doyle and Mikayla Zandstra to the requalifying rounds.

Gisborne
Three of the team scoring over 15 points in their heats as well as Reno Marriott and Jacob Kohn both winning their heats.  Can they be stopped this year?

Hawkes Bay
A strong showing by the dark horses of the event.  Last year they shocked all with Jesse Trafford winning the under 14 boys division.  Jesse moved through his under 16 boys heat today as did his older brother Corey Trafford in the under 18s.  Christo Gilbert also progressed but the star performance came from Tyler Lawson who won his heat to cause the biggest upset of the day.  The team looked solid in their performances.

Taranaki
The host team look strong this year.  They have surfers coming into good form and the likes of team veterans Mike Mallalieu and Tyler Anderson showed the rest how it was done.  The team lost a couple of surfers in Connor Anderson and Tom Smith but they will get to contest the requalifying rounds before their event is through.

Wellington
James Tume won his under 16 boys heat to spearhead the capital’s line up.  Charlie Denniston also won his heat after arriving at the event location less than five minutes before his heat.

Canterbury
Cody McCusker won his heat and was the only Canterbury surfer to do so.  However the team strength lay in the under 16 boys division with Sam Courtney and Michael Dalrymple both placing second in their heats.

West Coast
Anna Hawes was the lone surfer to progress through her heat in the under 18 boys division for the West Coast.  Unfortunately her team mates suffered several defeats on day one and will need to bounce back in the requalifying rounds on day two.

Otago
Tom Bracegirdle was the lone Otago surfer to progress in the under 16 boys division.  Some big backhand re-entries saw him mixing it up with the best of the qualifiers.  Unfortunately his fellow two under 16 boys as well as the under 18 surfer Jimmy Crooks all suffered losses.  

Complete lists of all National Scholastic Champions are located on the Surfing New Zealand website under events – www.surfingnz.co.nz. 

The Smokefree National Scholastic Surfing Championships would not be possible without the support of Smokefree, The Edge, NZ Surfing Magazine, Opunake Boardriders and Surfing New Zealand.  

Previous reports:
# 1 : Coming soon
# 2 : Coming soon
# 3 : Coming soon
# 4 : Coming soon  

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