The final day of the Backdoor King and Queen of the Point presented by Quiksilver was saved for the junior divisions with New Zealand representatives claiming three of the four age groups on offer.
After the Men’s and Women’s Divisions were completed at Manu Bay on Saturday, and won by Billy Stairmand and Ella Williams, a change in venue was required for the final day of the event with the backup location of Ruapuke Beach proving fruitful for the best Kiwi juniors in the country. A clean 1.0m swell and offshore winds prevailed all day producing groomed waves that held throughout the tides.
The Under 20 Girls Division was flipped in the final five minutes with seasoned campaigner Natasha Gouldsbury (Tara) eventually claiming the win over double-finalist Chloe Groube (Pau) 13.25 to 13.1 points.
It was Groube that got off to a flyer with some big forehand power hacks for a 6.83 before backing it up with a 4.67. Gouldsbury took the lead with a heat-high7.4 late in the battle. Groube fought back with a last-ditch effort, but requiring a 6.41, came up short with a 6.27, giving Gouldsbury the win.
“In my head I was going ‘I don’t want to get beaten by a fourteen-year-old’” Said Gouldsbury. “Chloe got that good one at the start and I knew she could have gotten more higher scores too, so I needed to get a couple of good waves and that last wave, I thought Chloe was going to get because she had priority but I got it and thought ‘go big or go home’” said Gouldsbury. “So yeah, pretty stoked to get the win finally after some average results of late” added an almost relieved Gouldsbury.
Raglan surfers Alani Morse and Brie Bennett finished in third and fourth respectively in the Under 20 Girls Division final.
Gouldsbury’s New Zealand teammate Kora Cooper (Rag) won the Under 20 Boys Division to round out the day in a close final against his three opponents. Cooper finished fourth in the Open Men’s Division on Saturday and backed that form up with a win today. He posted an 11.43 point heat total in the final after taking an early lead and holding on to the end.
Cooper’s biggest challenge came from the in-form Jack Hinton who finished with a 10.1 point heat total, however Hinton couldn’t find the right waves that had seen him smash his way to the final.
Whangarei surfer Tom Robinson finished third in the final on 9.97 points with fellow Northland surfer Te Kauwhata Kauwhata finishing in fourth place.
New Zealand representative Jack Tyro (Chch) clinched the Under 16 Boys Division with the day’s highest total of 15.23 points. Tyro started the final strongly locking in a 7.23 point ride and added an exclamation mark on his performance with his last wave of 8.0 points out of a possible 10. The final could have gone a number of ways until Tyro’s last wave and it was Tao Mouldey (Mnt) that finished in second place on 11.96 points. Piha’s Will Hardie finished in third place ahead of Tava Santorik (Mnt) in fourth.
Maya Mateja (Rag) ran away with the Under 16 Girls Division despite being away from her favoured Manu Bay. Mateja posted a 10.83 point total in the final punctuated with a clean two turn combo at the end of the final that netted a 6.0 ride. Up until the final wave, it was a close tussle with all finalists. Chloe Groube (Pau) fought her way into second place on 7.17, narrowly edging Pia Rogers (WGM) in third and Lani Frazerhurst (Rag) in fourth.
The Backdoor King and Queen of the Point pres by Quiksilver is an SNZ3000 event and boasts $15,000 in prize money as the richest event of the year and with maximum national ranking points on offer.
Information
For more information on the Backdoor King and Queen of the Point presented by Quiksilver, please contact Ben Kennings on 021 2278732 or email benkennings@surfingnz.co.nz.
Partners
Generous support from Backdoor Surf Shop, Quiksilver, Channel Island Surfboards and Sticky Johnson have made the event possible. The event is hosted by Raglan’s Point Boardriders.
Imagery
High resolution images will be available to media upon request. Images will be distributed free of charge.
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