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Matt Hewitt - Image courtesy of Jake White
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New Zealand’s Matt Hewitt (Mnt) and Paige Hareb (Tara) have grabbed podium finishes on the last day of the Quiksilver ISA World Junior Championships that were completed at Costa De Caparica, Portugal overnight (Sunday NZ time). Matt Hewitt was the top performer for the Rip Curl New Zealand Junior Surfing Team placing third in the under 16 boys while Hareb placed fourth in the under 18 girls final. Their two remarkable results helped elevate the team to fourth place – one place higher than they went into the final day. The result is the best the New Zealand team have achieved in the past four years. Team Australia took out the overall standings as well as gold medals in the under 18 girls and under 16 boys.
Matt Hewitt started the under 16 boys final well with two quick rides posting a 4.90 and 5.90 within the first five minutes of the 30 minute final. The two waves settled the nerves for Hewitt and allowed him to open up with the flare that he is renowned for. However Australian surfer Garrett Parkes who progressed through the qualifying rounds alongside Hewitt busted the final wide open surfing to a near perfect 9.6 point ride and then in quick succession scored a 7.8 point ride to ‘combo’ his three rivals (all three surfers requiring a combination of waves to take the lead). Hewitt fought back with a long right-hander that scored 6.9 to strengthen his second position. The Tahitian surfer Tamaroa McComb also came back at the heat leaders though and posted a 7.8 point ride on the same long rights to jump into second. Hewitt tried valiantly to find the big scores required but the ocean did not cooperate as he only managed to find one manoeuvre waves.
Hewitt eventually finished with a bronze medal third placing ahead of Australia’s Davey Cathels in fourth. Hewitt’s result is the best a New Zealand under 16 surfer has achieved since Bobby Hansen placed second in 2001. It is a remarkable performance from the young surfer who was attending his first World Junior Championships.
Paige Hareb attempted to get her under 18 girls final off to the best possible start also. Throughout the event Hareb had led her heats from the outset catching excellent early rides but in the final her early waves did not offer the scoring potential required and she instantly fell behind the eight ball. Last year’s runner up Sally Fitzgibbons (Aus) (who Hareb had beaten earlier in the event) shot to the lead with an 8.7 and then backed it up with an 8.28. The huge two-wave heat score (16.98) would give her a lead that she wouldn’t surrender and even her Australian counterpart Laura Enever couldn’t keep up finishing in second. Hareb fought back on her last and best wave scoring 6.92 with several big aggressive turns but it was not enough to elevate her out of fourth with American Sage Ericson retaining third place.
The highly competitive Hareb may wonder what might have been but the fact is that she equalled Airini Mason’s result in 2006 as one of the best results achieved in the under 18 girls division by a New Zealand surfer. With one year remaining in the division Hareb will hope that she can take the gold after realising her full potential at this year’s event.
The final team standings were out of New Zealand’s hands with no surfers contesting the final of the premier under 18 boys division. Tim O’Connor had been eliminated in that division on the penultimate day placing 7th. For New Zealand to climb to fourth on the team standings they required the near impossible. The form surfer of the past three days, Cory Arrambide (USA) needed to finish fourth. Opening the heat with an excellent 8.4 was not the start New Zealand needed however as the final progressed the American surfer lost his way being demoted to second then third and with three minutes to go into fourth place. The final hooter of the event sealed New Zealand’s fate as they retained their lead over USA and overtook France jumping to an overall placing of fourth, the best the team has achieved since 2002.
Please see below for final results from the Quiksilver ISA World Junior Championships.
Under 18 Boys Grand FinalJadson Andre, BRZ, 1, Chris Friend, AUS, 2, Charlie Brown, BRZ, 3, Cory Arrambide, USA, 4
Under 16 Boys Qualifying Round 6Tamaroa Mccomb, TAH, 1, Matt Hewitt, NZL, 2, Maxime Huscenot, FRA, 3, Garret Parkes, AUS, 4
Under 16 Boys Grand FinalGarrett Parkes, AUS, 1, Tamaroa Mccomb, TAH, 2, Matt Hewitt, NZL, 3, Davey Cathels, AUS, 4
Under 18 Girls Qualifying Round 6Laura Enever, AUS, 1, Paige Hareb, NZL, 2, Ashley Smith, AUS, 3, Alessa Quizon, HAW, 4
Under 18 Girls Grand FinalSally Fitzgibbon, AUS, 1, Laura Enever, AUS, 2, Sage Ericson, USA, 3, Paige Hareb, NZL, 4
Final Team Standings
1, Australia2, Brazil3, Hawaii 4, New Zealand5, USA6, France7, South Africa8, Tahiti 9, Japan
10, Portugal
The World Junior Surfing Championships is an annual event having been held since 2003. New Zealand has competed at the event since its inception as well as competing at the World Grommet Titles as it was formerly known since 1989. New Zealand has been one of the top nations at each event with Jay Quinn (Gis) securing New Zealand’s first World Championship in the Under 18 Men’s division in 2001. New Zealand has placed 7th at the last three World Junior Championships. A record twenty-eight countries competed at the event in 2007.
For further information regarding the Rip Curl New Zealand Junior Surfing Team, please contact Ben Kennings at Surfing New Zealand 07 8250018, 0212278732 or email benkennings@surfingnz.co.nz.
The tour would not have been possible without the support of Rip Curl, New Zealand Community Trust and Surfing New Zealand.
The tour would not have been possible without the support of Rip Curl, New Zealand Community Trust and Surfing New Zealand.
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