A short day of surfing at Fitzroy Beach has seen the first participants exit from the 2022 National Scholastic Surfing Championships and the team points start to take shape for the first time.
Nine-time champions Bay of Plenty are the only team remaining with a full complement of surfers still in the event and they lead the points standings with Auckland, Canterbury and Northland following close behind.
A messy 1.0m swell greeted surfers for the second day of the event which was held at Fitzroy Beach. The onshore winds prevailed all day making it tough for the shortened day of heats.
Surfers in the Under 18 Boys Division showed some excellent surfing in their opening round. Dunedin’s Jake Owen continued his good run of form today posting an 11.35 point heat total in his heat to advance. The natural footer will be keen to take his approach to the points of Taranaki on Day 3 as the event relocates south.
Owen is part of a ten person team from Dunedin and despite losing two surfers today, the team is filled with finals and titles potential including Owen’s younger brother Alexis who is contesting the Under 14 Boys Division.
Top seed Kalani Louis made easy work of his opening round match up hunting down the best waves on offer to win his heat with Waikato’s Luke Dymond in second. Other heat winners included Joe Goodjohn (Mnt), Te Kauwhata Kauwhata (Whngrei) and Tyler Perry (Kaik).
In the first of the requalifying rounds, Spencer Rowson (Tara) made up for his day one mishap to post the event’s highest heat total – 15.60 out of a possible 20.
Coromandel teammates clawed their way back into the main rounds on three occasions with Ezekiel Wyper and Manu Roberts advancing in the Under 16 Boys Division while Harrison Biddle moved through in the Under 14 Boys Division.
Hawkes Bay’s Riku Gordon was another surfer to shine in the Under 16 Boys Division alongside his teammate Evan Broad who advanced out of the Under 18 Boys Requalify Round.
Northland’s Cohen Graham got his team cheering from the beach as he took a come from behind second place finish in the dying stages of his Under 14 Boys Division heat.
Gisborne fought their way back into the main round on three occasions too with Harry Haywood, William Matthews and Max Phillips all keeping their hopes alive in the event.
Day three (Wednesday 12th October) will see five divisions contested including the Under 18 and 16 Girls Divisions which will hit the water for the first time. The swell is expected to build overnight with Wednesday looking like the best of the five-day window.
The final day of the event is being streamed on the Whakaata Maori YouTube channel. Live scoring, results and daily schedules can be viewed via www.liveheats.com/55817.
Current team standings after two of five days at the 2022 National Scholastic Surfing Championships being held at Taranaki from the 10-15 October.
1, Bay of Plenty, 11040
2, Auckland, 10570
3, Canterbury, 10555
4, Northland, 10495
5, Coromandel, 10110
6, Taranaki, 10100
7, Gisborne, 8960
8, Hawkes Bay, 8785
9, Otago, 8325
10, Waikato, 7450
11, West Coast, 1000
The National Scholastic Surfing Championships has been held since 1989. The event, which has unearthed two generations of top Kiwi talent, takes place along the Taranaki coastline from 10 – 14 October.
The event comprises eight age group divisions for males and females across both shortboard and longboard disciplines. Twelve regional teams from throughout the country contest the event with eleven teams in attendance in 2022 vying for both individual titles as well as the overall team title. Canterbury is the defending champion at the event having won the event in home waters in 2020.
Over 110 surfers are participating at the event in 2022 after having qualified to represent their twelve person teams via a series of regional events held during winter months.
The 2022 National Scholastic Surfing Championships is sanctioned by Surfing New Zealand, Secondary School Sport NZ. The event is made possible with the support of Pub Charity. The event is supported by the New Zealand Sports Collective, Whakaata Maori, Caltex, Bayleys, Apollo Projects, Pure Athletic and NZ Carbon Farming.
For more information on the National Scholastic Surfing Championships, please contact Ben Kennings on 021 2278732 or email benkennings@surfingnz.co.nz. Follow @surfingnz across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for all the action from the event.
Imagery
High resolution images from the event will be available to media upon request.
Surfing New Zealand is proudly partnered by:
Sport NZ
Volkswagen
Skinnies
Surfline
Arepa
Ends
