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Richard Christie - Image courtesy of Daisy Day
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Gisborne’s Richard Christie took out the Auahi Kore Aotearoa Maori Titles presented by Hyundai today (Sunday) to make a triumphant return home after competing in Australia for the past two months. In a messy but building 1.5m swell at Oakura Beach, Taranaki, Christie took his time in making his way to the front of the pack but relentlessly continued with his explosive surfing until he pulled off the moves and took out the final. As a result of his win he secured a place in the New Zealand team for the 2008 Oceania Cup to be held in Tahiti next June. Jessica Santorik and Bodhi Whitaker also secured places in the team with their wins in the Open Women’s and Junior Men’s respectively.
The Billabong Open Men’s Division boasted four surfers that would have been comfortable in any national final held in New Zealand. Their talent ensured a spectacular 25 minutes of surfing where everything would be put on the line and it was Christie that pulled off the big manoeuvres to finally lock in the scores after the lead went through several hands.
Christie was first to ‘pocket’ a good score – 6.00 on his first ride. Defending champion Daniel Kereopa and Leon Santorik, both of Raglan, then fought back and held the lead at different times with two medium scoring rides each. Roberts came into the game late with a huge backhand floater on a closeout wave to score 5.35 and move into second but with a good wave in the ‘bank’ it was only a matter of when for Christie and on his last wave he completed a series of big backhand turns to score 8.00 out of a possible 10 and jump out into a near unassailable lead. Kereopa had one last effort but on a smaller righthander he could not get the speed to rival the moves of Christie and he had to settle for runner up this time around.
Roberts looked to match the flare of Christie but fell on too many occasions and couldn’t hunt out the longer rides that allowed more than one manoeuvre. It was a gamble on where to sit and the luck didn’t fall his way nor Leon Santorik’s in the later stages when they needed to find ‘that wave’ with Santorik finishing in fourth place.
Younger sister of Leon, Jessica Santorik was the only surfer to defend her title at this years event and she made easy work of winning the Roxy Open Women’s Division. Completing big forehand re-entries Santorik rode to an amazing 9.0 point ride on her last wave to hammer home her win. Local surfer Jess Terrill remained in the hunt after scoring 6.75 on her first wave but with the swell building and conditions becoming more and more challenging she couldn’t find the high scoring 8.10 point ride required to prevent Santorik from winning her third straight win in this division. Whangarei surfer Renee Lee made a good showing to finish third in the final ahead of Thandi Durham in fourth.
The Rip Curl Under 18 Men’s final saw the lead change several times and it went down to the wire on the last wave ridden by Gisborne surfer Bodhi Whitaker who scored 6.10. is score was enough to push Tim O’Connor (Mnt) back into second place when the hooter sounded to end the final. Earlier Whitaker rode the wave of the final midway through the heat – an excellent lefthander that he managed to perform three big backhand turns on to score 8.00. O’Connor did manage to wrestle back the lead at one point scoring a 6.25 to take the lead but Whitakers final score of 14.10 out-posted O’Connor’s 13.25. Buck Woods and Johnny Hicks had to settle for the minor placings with Woods getting the nod for third and Hicks finishing in fourth after having already surfed their under 16s final.
A trio of Gisborne surfers including Woods and Hicks triumphed over the lone Taranaki surfer remaining in the Volcom Under 16 Boys division. Johnny Hicks, Buck Woods and Jay Paddock finished in that order in the final ahead of Sean Parker. Hicks opened his account with a huge forehand re-entry on a closeout to score 5.75. He then backed that up with a 5.0 late in the heat to cement his first place. Buck Woods required a 6.85 on his final wave to catch Hicks but could only manage to post a 5.10 and place second ahead of Paddock in third scoring 6.80 and Parker in fourth scoring 6.55.
Raglan’s Wayne Cooper took his maiden win at the Maori Titles winning the Bodyline Over 30 men’s division dethroning his travel partner Phil Willoughby – also a finalist in the division. Cooper scored a 10.75 total heat score to narrowly push local Waitara surfer Michael Lewis into second with a score of 10.65. Lewis also scored the highest single wave score of the final – 6.75. 2006 champion Phil Willoughby finished in third place ahead of Nick Rowe (Taranaki).
Auckland surfer Kelvin Louie triumphed in the Seed Over 40 Men’s Division after scoring 4.75 on his last wave elevating him from third to first. Kelvin was one of many father son combinations at the event and will take bragging rights in the competing parents department. Staving off his opposition was just as great accomplishment with the likes of Ronnie Mayor placing second and Waitara surfer and defending champion Jason Matthews placing third. Fellow parent Martin Matenga placed fourth in the final.
Kereopa completely dominated the Hyundai longboard division winning the title back from 2006 champion Jamie Andrews who had the unfortunate circumstance of breaking his board in the first ten minutes of the final. Kereopa scored 13.75 for his combined two wave total to leave the rest of the field requiring a combination of waves to match or better him. Issac Johnston placed second after battling with numerous close-out waves and finished just ahead of Andrews who was scored on his one ridden wave that totalled 5.0 out of possible 10. James Atutahi finished the final in fourth position.
Full results from the Auahi Kore Aotearoa Maori Titles presented by Hyundai follow.
Billabong Open Men Semifinals
Heat 1Daniel Kereopa (Tainui), 1, Morehu Roberts (Rongowhakaata), 2, Tim O'Connor (Waikato), 3, Jason Zimmerman (Tara), 4, Heat 2Richard Christie (Kahungunu), 1, Leon Santorik (Ngati Tama/Toa), 2, Jamie Andrews (Te Atiawa), 3, Brandon Kingi (Wgtn), 4
Billabong Open Men Final
Richard Christie (Kahungunu), 1, Daniel Kereopa (Tainui), 2, Morehu Roberts (Rongowhakaata), 3, Leon Santorik (Ngati Tama/Toa), 4
Roxy Open Women Final
Jessica Santorik (Ngati Tama/Toa), 1, Renee Lee (Te Arawa), 3, Thandi Durham, 4, Jess Terrill (Te Atiawa), 2
Bodyline Over 30 Men Semifinals
Heat 1Phillip Willoughby (Nga Puhi), 1, Wayne Cooper (Ngai Tai), 2, Shaun Coffey (Ngaruahine), 3Heat 2Nick Rowe, 1, Michael Lewis, 2, Jeff Piper (Nga Puhi), 3
Bodyline Over 30 Men Final
Phillip Willoughby (Nga Puhi), Wayne Cooper (Ngai Tai), Nick Rowe, Michael Lewis
Aotearoa Born & Bread Over 35 Men Semifinals
Heat 1Shaun Coffey (Ngaruahine), 1, James Atutahi (Nga Puhi), 2, Phillip Willoughby (Nga Puhi), 3Heat 2Jason Matthews (Te Atiawa), 1, Mark Strong (Te Atiawa), 2, Ronnie Mayor (Ngati Rangi), 3
Aotearoa Born & Bread Over 35 Men Finals
Shaun Coffey (Ngaruahine), 1, Jason Matthews (Te Atiawa), 2, Mark Strong (Te Atiawa), 3, James Atutahi (Nga Puhi), 4
Seed Over 40 Men Semifinals
Heat 1Ronnie Mayor (Ngati Rangi), 1, Kelvin Louie (Nagti Porou), 2, Dave Haskell (Te Atiawa), 3Heat 2Jason Matthews (Te Atiawa), 1, Martin Matenga (Waikato), 2, Te Kauhoe Wano (Te Atiawa), 3
Seed Over 40 Men Final
Kelvin Louie (Nagti Porou), 1, Ronnie Mayor (Ngati Rangi), 2, Jason Matthews (Te Atiawa), 3, Martin Matenga (Waikato), 4
Rip Curl Under 18 Boys Finals
Bodhi Whitaker (Ngati Whakaue), 1, Tim O'Connor (Waikato), 2, Buck Woods (Ngati Teata/Tainui), 3, Johnny Hicks (Nagti Porou), 4
Volcom Under 16 Boys Semifinals
Heat 1Johnny Hicks (Gis), 1, Sean Parker (Tara), 2, Ryan Elliot (Te Arawa), 3, Elliot Paerata-Reid, 4Heat 2Buck Woods (Ngati Teata/Tainui), 1, Jay Paddock (Te Rarawa), 2, Reno Marriot (Ngati Porou), 3, Taylor Haskell (Te Atiawa), 4
Volcom Under 16 Boys Finals
Johnny Hicks (Gis), 1, Buck Woods (Ngati Teata/Tainui), 2, Jay Paddock (Te Rarawa), 3, Sean Parker (Tara), 4
Hyundai Longboard Round 1
Heat 1Daniel Kereopa (Rag), 1, James Atutahi (Maketu), 2, Reeve Hokopaura (Pakakohi/Rauru), 3Heat 2Issac Johnson (Orewa), 2, Jamie Andrews (Waitara), 1, Te Kauhoe Wano (Te Atiawa), 3, Reupene Dewes (Ngati Uepohatu), 4
Hyundai Longboard Final
Daniel Kereopa (Rag), 1, Issac Johnson (Orewa), 2, Jamie Andrews (Waitara), 3, James Atutahi (Maketu), 4
Generous support from the following companies has made this event possible - Auahi Kore the principle supporter of Maori surfing as well Hyundai the associate sponsor for the event. Division sponsorship has been provided by Bodyline, Roxy, Billabong, Rip Curl and Volcom, Seed and Aotearoa Born and Bred.
For further information on the 2007 Auahi Kore Aotearoa Maori Titles held in association with Hyundai please contact Surfing New Zealand’s Ben Kennings on 021 2278732 or email ben.kennings@surfingnz.co.nz. Alternatively contact Surfing New Zealand Maori Coordinator Steve Ria on 021 2278731.
Surfing New Zealand are proudly partnered by
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Ends
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