| Young Kiwi talents battle for the Gisborne waves |
| Tuesday, 05 October 2010 10:18 |
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The country's hottest junior surfing talent zoned in on Gisborne today for the first of five intense days of competition at the National Scholastic Surfing Championships. Twelve representative teams from all over New Zealand fronted for the event, Makorori Beach the venue, turning on great conditions with 1.0m waves and light winds all day. It is the 22nd time the annual event has taken place with the honours board, across the eight divisions contested, listing the who's who of the country's best surfers.The boys divisions occupied the first day of action with the Under 18, Under 16 and Under 14 Boys all surfing their first round heats. Defending champions Bay of Plenty have yet again fielded a strong team led by injured team coach and ex national champion Matt Hewitt. The team comprises New Zealand representatives JC Susan and team captain Todd Doyle, two surfers that shone through the pack in the first round. "We have some good talent in our team at the moment, we should do pretty well this year" exclaimed Doyle. "Peri Matenga is solid and we have a good bodyboarder (Jamee Smith) this year and little Jordan Griffin will be strong in the Under 14 boys too". Doyle himself scored 12.25 points out of a possible 20 to win his first round heat over Canterbury surfer Hugh Ritchie in second and local surfer James Curle in third. "There is some pretty good competition around, I will just have to see how I go" commented Doyle adding "I have got some good boards under my feet and I am feeling pretty confident" as he looks toward his second round match up. Doyle's team mate JC Susan also scored highly with an 8.5 on his first wave which was the highest single wave score of the day. Other Bay of Plenty surfers to progress included the four under 16 boys - Peri Matenga, Mac Christie, Kahu Craig - Ranga and Levi Stewart. Hawkes Bay surfer Tyler Lawson was another surfer to impress early posting 12.5 for his heat win setting the standard for his team of nine surfers. "It was fun out there today" said Lawson. "I definitely want to improve on last years result when I placed fourth in the Under 16 Boys Division". Lawson was joined by team mates Ian Wessels and William Brown the two surfers also moving through to the second round in their respective divisions. Big heat winners in the Under 18 Boys Division included Fraser Chatham (Coromandel), Jacob Kohn (Gis), Nat Hughes (Waikato), Matt Smith (Tara) and Joe Moretti (Northland) proving that this year's event has the most even spread of talent in years. The performance of the Taranaki team hinged on their under 16 boys who all moved through their heats on day one. Sean Kettle led the charge posting 13.25 points in his heat - the highest heat score of the day. Kettle left nothing to chance going for huge turns that ultimately netted him single wave scores of 7.25 and 6.0. Kettle was joined by his older brother Josh Kettle and Eli McDonald as the Taranaki surfers to move through the first round along with Matt Smith in the Under 18 Boys Division. "Most of our guys are through and we want to go for the title this year" commented Kettle of his Taranaki team who placed seventh in 2009. Of his own performance, Kettle said that he felt no pressure out there in his heat and simply "went out there to do the basics" adding "there are heaps of guys to watch out for in the Under 16s. Obviously guys like Ben Poulter (Wai) 'cos he got sixth at the worlds this year and all the other top seeds like Tane (Wallis) and stuff." Wallis was one of five Auckland surfers who surfed to a perfect start as they all progressed through to the second round. Wallis was joined by Waretini Wano, Taylor Louie, Stefan Gross and Sid West. The local Gisborne team found the going tough on the first day with several surfers being pushed back to the requalifying round. However, with all surfers getting a second chance after the first round, the team remains alive in their bid to be victorious on home soil. "Our team is not at full strength this year so we will all have to perform out our absolute best to get a good result at this event" said team captain Jacob Kohn. Kohn was one Gisborne surfer that impressed in the Under 18 Boys Division but he was quick to highlight his team mates Johnny (Curle) and Jules (Craft) that also progressed through their heats. Late in the day the Under 14 Boys Division kicked off with Te Rapai Barbarich - Love (Tara), Mackenzie Bowden (Coro) and Joe Palmer (Nrthlnd). The second day of competition is likely to see the girls divisions hit the water as well as the first elimination rounds of the boys divisions where team points will start to change. Please see below for results from day one of the National Scholastic Surfing Championships held at Makorori Beach, Gisborne today. Under 18 Boys Round 1 Under 18 Boys Requalify Round 1 (To be surfed on Wednesday) Under 16 Boys Round 1 Under 16 Boys Requalify 1 (To be surfed on Wednesday) Under 18 Girls Round 1 (To be surfed on Wednesday) Under 16 Girls Round 1 (To be surfed on Wednesday) U14 Girls Round 1 (To be surfed on Wednesday) Under 18 Boys Longboard Round 1 (To be surfed on Wednesday)
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