| Surfing hat-trick for Josh Constable |
| Monday, 21 February 2011 09:31 |
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It has been a hat-trick in surfing. Josh Constable complete a third consecutive event win at the Mount Maunganui stage of the Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour, in New Zealand. The Australian longboarder took the best one-metre waves fanned by offshore winds. In the Open Men's Division final Constable, managed to secure two top-scoring waves in the first five minutes leaving the other surfers needing a combination of scores to catch up. "I wanted to capitalise while the conditions were really nice," he said of his 17.90 point heat total. In the battle for the minor placings, Kibblewhite held second place with long hang-10s and a big reo to finish on one wave scoring a total of 13.80 out of a possible 20 points. However he was pipped in the last minute by American surfer Taylor Jensen who secured an 8.0 out of 10 late to finish with a heat total of 15.4 and second place. Local surfer Ant McColl also surfed well securing an 11.5 point total heat but that was not enough against the international challenge and he finished fourth. In the other divisions, Brian Young took the win in the last minutes of the Over 40 Men's Division pushing local surfer Eric Burggraaf into second. Young says he started the final badly after following his nephew, Kibblewhite, over to a more secluded right-handed to the north of the main peak. But he was unable to get a wave there and had to paddle down the beach to the more consistent spot where he picked up some great waves to beat Burggraaf, Steve Tyro and Mal Brady. Young has now won three from three events in the Over 40 Men's Division to cement his place at the top. In the Under 18 Boys Division Hone Douglas showed his style on a couple of nice right-hand runners. The all Bay of Plenty final was a familiar interchange but Douglas says it was great to win one at Mount Maunganui over his opponents Joe Stewart, Matt Craig and Blake Barnfield. In the Over 50 Men's Division, winner Mike Thomson (Rag) says he struggled to catch the waves on the shifty beach break but found a couple of longer rides late in the heat. "The waves were a bit of a tease" he says of his win over Grant Cochrane, David Storck and Rupert Newbold. In the Women's Division, Australian Nava Young was able to do what her partner Jensen was unable to, taking the win off fellow Australian Georgia Young in second with Kiwis Shelley Jones in third and Anna Gooding in fourth.
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