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50th National Surfing Championships To Be Celebrated At Piha |
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Written by Ben Kennings
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Monday, 17 October 2011 |
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| Jay Quinn - Image PhotoCPL |
The Hyundai National Championships celebrates a monumental milestone in 2012 with the fiftieth edition of the event taking place at Piha Beach, Auckland.
The all encompassing seven day event will run from the 15th – 21st
of January.
The Hyundai National Championships were first held in 1963 when they took
place at Mount Maunganui. In its infancy, the event comprised Open Men’s
and Women’s as well as Under 18 Men’s divisions only. Since then it has grown to comprise a
colossal 23 divisions across all disciplines and the 2012 edition will crown New Zealand’s
500th national champion.
“It is fitting to have the fiftieth edition of the event at Piha” commented
Greg Townsend. While it is not the birth
place of the National Championships, Piha is regarded as the first beach to see
the modern surfboard ridden after American’s Bing Copeland and Rick Stoner
travelled to New Zealand
in the late 1950s. Piha is also one of
the country’s most famous surf destinations” added Townsend.
Fast forward to the current day and the Hyundai National Championships will
see New Zealand’s current crop of elite surfers do battle in the West Coast waves
and certainly on equipment a lot different to that ridden back in the 50s.
Defending Open Men’s Champion Jay Quinn (Gis) will be out to attain his third
Open Men’s Division title and go one step closer to his brother Maz who has
been stranded on four titles since 2006.
Quinn is currently residing in Australia
and competing on the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour
alongside New Zealand’s
highest ranked surfer Richard Christie (Mah).
Both Quinn and Christie are locked in a tussle to break into the top 32
surfers in the world and a chance to compete on the big stage with the best in
the world. To achieve that, the two
surfers will need several excellent results before the end of the year to bridge
the 16 and 14 places respectively on the ASP rankings from where they currently
stand.
Meanwhile defending Open Women’s Champion Airini Mason (Chch) will be back
to defend her title at Piha. Piha was
the location of the barnstorming fourteen year old Mason back in 2004 where she
won both the Open Women’s and Under 16 Women’s Divisions before going on to
compete internationally. Now Mason has
put her competitive career on the back burner and is studying at Canterbury University
but will look to add another New
Zealand title to her long list of
achievements.
Airini’s younger sister Sarah (Gis) is likely to compete at the National
Championships after she narrowly missed qualification for the ASP World Tour
for 2012. Mason will use the event as a
build up toward her 2012 international campaign.
100% Kiwi owned Hyundai New Zealand has continued to be the main supporter
and title sponsor of the National Champs for the eighth straight year as part
of their long standing partnership with surfing in New Zealand. Combined with the Nationals, Hyundai New
Zealand also focus their efforts on the longboarding and stand up paddle
boarding areas of the sport as part of the Hyundai Tour. Hyundai New Zealand
have worked the different elements of the Hyundai Tour series to create
inclusive and family friendly events.
Tom Ruddenklau Hyundai New Zealand’s Chief
Operating Officer states “We are excited to be involved with the Hyundai
National Championship again in 2012. We
are particularly proud this year given the fact that the event has reached the
50 year milestone which is an outstanding achievement. There is some great activity planned and it
would be outstanding to see everyone down at Piha to join us in celebration of
50 years of this iconic Kiwi event”.
The longboard divisions at the National Championships will be contested as the
second of five events on the Hyundai Tour.
Interest continues to grow around the tour with surfers now travelling
from abroad to compete here in New
Zealand.
However the Hyundai National Championships caters for New Zealand residents and citizens only ensuring
that this prestigious title is contested against only New Zealand’s best.
Thomas Kibblewhite (Auck) shrugged off a long standing bridesmaid tag in 2011
winning the Open Longboard Division when it was contested at Dunedin.
The well received win set Kibblewhite up as the highest placed Kiwi on
the Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour in 2011 finishing in second behind Australian
Josh Constable.
The event is the first event of the New Zealand Pro Series and second of
five on the 2012 Hyundai Tour.
It will be the ninth time the event has been held at Piha. The Hyundai National Surfing Championships is
the most prestigious domestic surfing event in New Zealand.
Twenty three national titles will go up for grabs at the Hyundai National
Championships. As well as the premier
Open Men’s and Open Women’s Divisions, there will be a further 17 divisions
comprising of age groups from Under 14 through to Over 50s and also longboard,
Stand Up Paddleboard, Bodyboard and Kneeboard disciplines.
Set out below are the winners of key divisions for the past five years.
Open Men
2006 – Maz Quinn (Gis)
2007 – Daniel Kereopa (Rag)
2008 – Jay Quinn (Gis)
2009 – Matt Hewitt (Mnt)
2010 – Billy Stairmand (Rag)
2011 – Jay Quinn (Gis)
Open Women
2007 – Wini Paul (Sandy Bay)
2008 – Angie Koops (Kaik)
2009 – Daisy Thomas (Chch)
2010 – Laura Rishworth (Mnt)
2011 – Airini Mason (Chch)
Junior Men (U/18)
2007 – Paco Divers (Sandy Bay)
2008 – Sean Peggs (Tairua)
2009 – Ryan Hawker (Piha)
2010 – Johnny Hicks (Gis)
2011 – Ben Poulter (Rag)
Longboard
2007 – Daniel Kereopa (Rag)
2008 – Jay Quinn (Gis)
2009 – Daniel Proctor (Gis)
2010 – Dylan Barnfield (Ohope)
2011 – Thomas Kibblewhite (Auck)
Complete lists
of all National Champions are located on the Surfing
New Zealand website under History.
Entry into the Hyundai National Championships can be completed at Surfing New Zealand under events from 1st
December. Complete the entry process
online or download entry forms and send them in.
Further
Information
For further information on the 2011 Hyundai National
Championships please contact Surfing New Zealand’s Ben Kennings on 021 2278732
or email benkennings@surfingnz.co.nz. Alternatively contact Hyundai New Zealand
representative Darren Kirkland on 021998124 or email dkirkland@hyundai.co.nz
Imagery
Web clips and newsfeeds will be distributed free of charge from each
event. Please contact Ben Kennings for
further details.
High resolution action images of the surfing at all events will be available to
media free of charge upon request.
Nationals Blog
Be sure to get a different perspective on the event
via the SNZ Nationals Blog. This will be
updated throughout the seven days with news views and interviews to keep you
entertained.
Event Hotline
The Surfing New Zealand
event hotline is 0211134506. This will
be updated daily at approximately 7am with venue, divisions contested and
conditions.
Partners
Generous support from Hyundai New Zealand
and Lion Rock Boardriders has made this event possible.
Surfing New Zealand Newsletter
If you want to keep updated with surfing information delivered right to your
inbox then sign up to the SNZ
Newsletter.
Follow Surfing New Zealand and the Hyundai
National Championships
Live results will be fed live to the SNZ website via twitter so stay tuned with
up to date results. Alternatively follow
the action via the SNZ
Facebook and SNZ Twitter.
Surfing New Zealand are
proudly partnered by
Hyundai New Zealand
SPARC
Smokefree
Ends
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