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Hosts Canterbury Claim Title at Kaikoura

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The Canterbury Junior Surfing Team has surfed to victory at the 2020 National Scholastic Surfing Championships presented by Pub Charity completed on Friday (9th of October).

The Canterbury Team overcame a fierce three-way battle with Bay of Plenty and Auckland, the lead switching regions several times on the final day of the event before the title headed south for the year.

It is only the second time in 32 years that Canterbury has claimed the title, the last coming in 2018.  The dominant Bay of Plenty, who has won the title a record nine times, finished runner up this week leaving Auckland in third place still hunting for their first team title at the event.

The final day was held at Kaikoura and played out in solid 1.0m waves at Meatworks Beach.  Despite the nice swell, a strong cross shore wind blew up mid-morning making conditions challenging for all of the finalists.

Canterbury surfed to victory with three titles from their five finalists.  Titles went to Under 16 surfers Jai Oakley and Ava Henderson as well as the youngest team member Jack Tyro who claimed a title in the Under 14 Boys Division.

It was the conversion rate of finalists to winners that sealed the title for Canterbury with Bay of Plenty narrowly missing out on gaining titles from their eight finalists.  Auckland claimed two titles from five finalists with Leia Millar winning the Under 14 Girls Division and Nat Fitt winning the Under 18 Longboard Division.

Premier titles in the Under 18 Divisions went to Tom Robinson from Northland and Jaya Reardon from Otago.  Robinson helped his team to fourth overall and was welcomed back to shore by a stirring haka from his team mates.  Northland had three further finalists which saw the team narrowly miss out on a podium finish.

Jaya Reardon claimed Otago’s first title in two years with her performance being underpinned by an awesome right hander mid-way through the final that netted her a 6.25 point ride.  It is the fourth title that has gone to Otago in the history of the event with the Otago girls also securing a second from Anika Ayson in the Under 18 Girls Division and a third from Misha Peyroux in the Under 14 Girls Division this week.

Leia Millar claimed the first of two titles for Auckland when she won the Under 14 Girls Division.  Millar was a stand out all week and her performances were also good enough for her to win the Adam Clegg Award for Breakthrough Performer of the Event.  The award is voted on by all participants at the event and is a testament from their peers.

Bay of Plenty’s Jacob Saunders won the Breakthrough Performance Award for the guys after standing out all week in the Under 18 Boys Division.  Saunders came up short of the win on the final day with a runner up finish.  On his final wave seconds prior to the final hooter, Saunders required a 6.21, but finished with a 5.0 point ride much to the disappointment of him and his team mates.

Auckland’s second title came in the Under 18 Longboard Division with Nat Fitt carrying on his standout performances from the week of surfing.  It was a repeat of the 2019 final for the longboarders and Fitt was happy to reverse the result after finishing third last year.

A young Taranaki Team produced two finalists with Kalani Louis finishing third in the Under 16 Boys Division and Natasha Gouldsbury finishing fourth in the Under 16 Girls Division.

Coromandel secured just the one finalist with their lone female, Pia Rogers, finishing fourth in the Under 14 Girls Division.

The five-day event rounds out a series of regional qualifiers for the eleven teams in attendance. 110 surfers participated in the event after having qualified to represent their twelve-person teams.

The National Scholastic Championships comprises seven age group divisions for males and females across both shortboard and longboard disciplines.

Please see below for final results from the 2020 National Scholastic Surfing Championships presented by Pub Charity completed at Meatworks, Kaikoura yesterday ( Friday 9th October 2020).

Full results from the event can be viewed here.

Overall Team Points
1, Canterbury, 12605
2, Bay of Plenty, 12080
3, Auckland, 11878
4, Northland, 11571
5, Otago, 9477
6, West Coast, 8995
7, Coromandel, 8015
8, Taranaki, 7073
9, Wellington, 5978
10, Hawkes Bay, 5851
11, Gisborne, 2581
Under 18 Boys Finals
Tom Robinson (Whngrei), 12.4, 1, Jacob Saunders (BOP), 12.1, 2, Luis Southwood (Whaka), 11, 3, Sam Charlesworth (Auck), 6.5, 4
Under 16 Boys Finals
Jai Oakley (Chch), 13.25, 1, Ari D’Anvers (Whngrei), 11, 2, Kalani Louis (Tara), 8.4, 3, Izak Hayes (Whngrei), 4.25, 4
Under 14 Boys Finals
Jack Tyro (Chch), 12.5, 1, Mathias Thompson (Piha), 10.2, 2, Tai Murphy (Whaka), 9.6, 3, Tava Santorik (Mnt), 8.45, 4
Under 18 Girls Finals
Jaya Reardon (Dun), 11.75, 1, Georgia Wederell (Mnt), 6.2, 2, Anika Ayson (Dun), 6, 3, Amelie Wink (Chch), 4.15, 4
Under 16 Girls Finals
Ava Henderson (Chch), 15.55, 1, Leah Wilson (Chch), 9.65, 2, Anna Brock (Mnt), 7.15, 3, Natasha Gouldsbury (Tara), 6.55, 4
Under 14 Girls Finals
Leia Millar (Piha), 11.15, 1, Sophia Brock (Mnt), 10.1, 2, Misha Peyroux (Dun), 7.15, 3, Pia Rogers (WGM), 6.8, 4
Under 18 Longboard Final
Natt Fitt (Auck), 15.2, 1, Billy Whelan (Nrth), 11.75, 2, Sonny Eades (BOP), 5.85, 3, Ben Counsell (Auck), 5.85, 4

The 2020 National Scholastic Surfing Championships is sanctioned by Surfing New Zealand, the Secondary School Sport NZ and supported by the New Zealand Sports Collective, Sky Sport Next and Pub Charity.

For more information on these events please contact Ben Kennings on 021 2278732 or email benkennings@surfingnz.co.nz.

Imagery
High resolution images from the event will be available to media upon request.

Live Scoring and Finals Day Broadcast
Live scoring throughout the week can be viewed on www.compusurf.com.au.  Finals for the Under 16 Division and above will be streamed live on Sky Sport Next.

 

Surfing New Zealand is proudly partnered by:

Sport NZ
SunSmart
Water Safety NZ

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