Hugh Ritchie - Image Silas / Kiwi Surf

Cody McCusker convincingly won the U16 Boys division of the South Island Surfing Grom Series held at Taylors Mistake on Saturday.  With event organisers choosing to move the contest to the more sheltered Taylors Mistake the grommets were rewarded with pumping two to three foot peaks for most of the day. 

With the sun belting down, McCusker who made a somewhat slow start during the early rounds became a wave magnet in the Under 16 final, stringing together a series of long forehand waves that showed McCuskers ability to carve on rail back into the pocket. 

McCusker now has two wins, in this three event series, and no doubt he will be looking for a clean sweep with the next event due to be held in Dunedin next month.

Jack Hawke who was second also picked up a couple of nice waves late in the heat. 

Kristi Zarifeh who chose to surf with the boys, proved she was no easy beat after dispatching several of the seeded Under 16 boy’s. Zarifeh’s strong turns saw her finish third in the final.

Taylor McNeill who had won all his early rounds could not find any good scoring waves during the final and finished fourth.

Max Cooke (New Brighton) used superior wave selection and smooth style to take out the Under 14 boys final. Jackson Carpinter placed second, Harrison Whiteside third with Jared Crawford finishing fourth.

With the Northside Boardriders Water Patrol on hand to keep an eye out for the young Under 12 Boy’s, all proved they were will be standouts in the future.

Rory Edmonds was to classy for his opponents taking 1^st place. Double finalist Harrison Whiteside took second spot with Nick Tuhikarama third and Max Marshall in fourth.

The Girls age groups were combined this year. Kristi Zarifeh (Under 16, Sumner) won the girl’s final, Alethea Lock (Under 16, Sumner) second, Kate Nicolson (Under12, Kaiapoi) third, Mackenzie McNeill (Under 14, Kaiapoi) fourth and Alescia Whitfield (Under 14, New Brighton) fifth.

The second “South Island Grom Series” event was proudly brought to you by Surfing New Zealand, South Island Surfing Association and Northside Boardriders.

The series will conclude with the third and final event at St Clair Beach in Dunedin on 30th January 2010.

Thanks also to Quiksilver,Club Bazaar and Exit Surf.

Results

Under 16 Boys
1st Cody McCusker
2nd Jack Hawke
3rd Kristi Zarifeh
4th  Taylor McNeill

U14 Boys
1st Max Cooke
2nd Jackson Carpinter
3rd Harrison Whiteside
4th Jared Crawford

U12 Boys
1st Rory Edmonds
2nd Harrison Whiteside
3rd Nick Tuhikarama
4th Max Marshall

Girls
1st Kristi Zarifeh
2nd Alethea Lock
3rd Kate Nicolson
4^th Mackenzie McNeill
5^th Alescia Whitfield

Information
For further information regarding the South Island Grom Series, please contact Ben Kennings at Surfing New Zealand 021 2278732, benkennings@surfingnz.co.nz or Aaron Lock at the South Island Surfing Association – 021 0307231 or aaronlock@xtra.co.nz.

Event websites – www.surfingnz.co.nz or www.sisa.co.nz   

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