The swell forecast for the first event of the Billabong Grom Series presented by Oceanbridge is the best in the series’ nine year history with a 1.5m – 2.0m swell forecast for the Bay of Plenty Region.
The first of three events kicks off this weekend (2-3 February) at Tay Street
and the solid swell predicted along with light onshore winds will have New
Zealand’s best young surfers eager to hit the water and test the mettle against
other young surfers from around the country.
The event this weekend has a full house of competitors with over 90 surfers
across the six divisions ranging between Under 16 and Under 12.
Returning from Australia to compete are New Zealand Under 16 Boys National
Champion Korbin Hutchings and also young Kaya Horne who is an ex-Mount
Maunganui local that now resides in Australia.
Horne spent his early years surfing with the Bay’s young standout Kehu
Butler before he left for warmer waters.
This weekend the two surfers will catch up again and no doubt do battle
in the water at some stage during the weekend.
“It will be good having Kaya back from Aussie and competing here. I want to surf against him in the final and
it would be good to beat him. He came
back last year but didn’t go in the comp” said Kehu Butler.
Butler is one of over thirty young Bay of Plenty groms competing at the event
with the region having strong representation in all divisions.
Entrants will want to be at the beach first thing on Saturday morning to make
the most of the coaching provided by Matt Scorringe. Scorringe will be giving a briefing prior to
the start of the event each day as well as offering up helpful coaching hints
and tips throughout the day as he watches the action take place from the beach.
Set out below is the first round draw for all six divisions contested. Competition will commence at 8:00am on
Saturday morning. The coaching session
will kick off at 7:30am.
Under
16 Boys Round of 36
Heat 1
Adam
Clegg (Tara), Te Rapai Barbarich Love (Waitara)
Heat
2
Korbin
Hutchings (Gis), Riccardo Lucibella (Tara)
Under 16 Boys Round of 32
Heat 1
Quin
Matenga (Mnt), Joshua Farr (Tara), Jacob Warnes (Mnt), Simon Fraser-Mackenzie
(Tau)
Heat 2
Zac
Curle (Katikati), Manu Scott-Arrieta (Sandy Bay), Jack Mills (Mnt)
Heat 3
Blake
O'Kane (Papamoa), Harrison Mossop (Tau), Maddy Gowthorpe Mnt), Max Dicken
(Auck)
Heat 4
Harrison
Whiteside (ChCh), Ben McCulloch (Gis), Blake Brown (Gis)
Heat 5
Taylor
Hutchison (Rag), Andrew Fraser-Mackenzie (Tau), Harry Macintosh (Auck)
Heat 6
Jack
Wilson (ChCh), Isaac Kettle (Tara), Lewis Mennie (Auck), Schalk Willem Van der
Merwe (Auck)
Heat 7
Callum
Chuter (Tau), Ryan Renall (Mangawhai), Ihaia Ngata (Tau)
Heat 8
Campbell
Ivory (Tairua), Jack Virtue (Gis), Kobe Johnson (Gis), Seren Marsh (Tau)
Under 14 Boys Round 1
Heat 1
Reuben
Mottart (Gis), Lachlan O'Connor (Mnt), Joel Clegg (Tara)
Heat 2
Braedyn
Louie (Piha), Connor Seaman (Auck)
Heat 3
Lee
Ririnui (Mnt), Kaya Horne (Mnt), Torben Hitchfield (Mnt)
Heat 4
Reef
Matthews (Waitara), Dane Schnell (Auck), Quin Bedford (Waipu Cove)
Under 14 Boys Quarterfinals (1st
and 2nd from Round 1 to be added)
Heat 1
Kehu
Butler (Arataki), Sam Copley (Auck)
Heat 2
Jonas
Tawharu (Mnt), Taine Craig Ranga (Waihi Bch)
Heat 3
Daniel
Farr (Tara), Jared Gebert (Ohope)
Heat 4
Samuel
Sands (Chch), Thomas Dixon-Smith (Gis)
Under 12 Boys Round of 18
Heat 1
Sonny
Rapira Martin (Waitara), Tom Butland (Tara), Oli Meadows (Waiheke), Boss
Meadows (Waiheke)
Under 12 Boys
Round of 16
Heat 1
Luke
Griffin (Mnt), Taylor O'Leary (Muriwai), Kaya Horne (Arataki), Leo Gerrie (Mnt)
Heat 2
Tane Bowden (Whmata), Finn Johnson (Gis), Finn Vette (Gis),
Heat 3
James Ririnui (Mnt), Caleb Cutmore (Ham), Jai Daly-Parr (Tau)
Heat 4
Henry Copley (Piha), William van der Beek (Tau), Josef Jungwirth (Gis), Sam
Gerrie (Mnt)
Under 16 Girls Round 1
Heat 1
Britt Kindred (Muri), Jennifer Rockwell (Auck), Jasmine Smith (Gis)
Heat 2
Dayna Story (Gis), Jana O'Connor (Coro), Sammy Croker (Waihi Bch)
Heat 3
Claudia Fraser (Auck), Celeste Calway (Katikati), Abby Falwasser - Logan
(Gis)
Under 14 Girls Round 1
Heat 1
Raiha Ensor (Mnt), Treyarn Barbarich (Arataki), Tiana Breeze - de Mooj
(Mnt), Ella Jungwirth (Gis)
Heat 2
Maaia Reid-Bennett (Arataki), Elin Tawharu (Mnt), Kea Smith (Mnt), Holly
Marson-Wood (Piha)
Under 12 Girls Round 1
Heat 1
Iritana Butler (Arataki), Saffi Vette (Gis), Teina Smith (Mnt)
Heat 2
Zhana Hutchieson (Waitara), Grace Pevats (Whrei), Stella Smith (Gis)
Please see below for the two remaining dates:
Billabong Grom Series pres by Oceanbridge Event 2 – 23rd – 24th
February, Whangamata
Billabong Grom Series pres by Oceanbridge Event 3 – 9th – 10th
March, Piha Beach, Auckland
Entry into the events can be completed at Surfing
New Zealand under events.
Further
Information
For further information on the 2013 Billabong Grom
Series presented by Oceanbridge please contact Surfing New Zealand’s Ben
Kennings on 021 2278732 or email benkennings@surfingnz.co.nz. Alternatively contact Billabong Event Manager
Keone Campbell on 0274921138 or email keone.campbell@billabong.co.nz.
Imagery
Web clips 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 on the Billabong
Grom Series presented by Oceanbridge will be available to media free of charge.
Event Hotline
The Surfing New Zealand
event hotline is 0211134506. This will
be updated daily at approximately 7am with venue, divisions contested and
conditions for the day.
Partners
Generous support from Billabong, Oceanbridge, Von Zipper, Palmers and
Kustom 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 the event Live!
Live results will be feed to the SNZ website via twitter so stay tuned with up
to date results. Alternatively follow
the action via the Billabong
Facebook, SNZ
Facebook and SNZ Twitter.
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