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South Island Grom Series – Event Three - Courtney Takes Win |
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Written by Lewis Joyce
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Friday, 12 February 2010 |
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The South Island Surfing Grom Series travelled to Dunedin on Saturday 30th of January for its third and final event. A large Christchurch contingent made the journey south to the legendary St Clair Beach to contest the last event in this series. The morning dawned bright and clear but the wave conditions were far from their usual perfect standards. The event organisers South Coast Boardriders chose to delay the start to allow the tide to push in, to help the somewhat variable conditions. With the sun belting down on inconsistent conditions the event began. Series leader U16 surfer Cody McCusker (Kaiapoi) started strongly, he entered the water with the series wrapt up after his two previous wins in this three event series. But fellow Northside Boardriders member Sam Courtney’s consistently strong surfing throughout the day saw McCusker’s dream of three from three dashed in the final minutes of the U16 Final.
The contest wasn’t without its dramas as heat two saw an interesting turn of events with last years series runner up Taylor McNeill (Kaiapoi) called into the beach after having two interferences called against him, this ending any hopes of a podium finish for him for this time. This left the two local Dunedin boys Tom Bracegirdle and Jordan Durst to contest with Alethea Lock for the remainder of the heat with Tom Bracegirdle and Jordan Durst both from South Coast progressing to the semi final’s.
The girls age groups were again combined at this event With Kristi Zarifeh (Under 16, Sumner), Alethea Lock (Under 16, Sumner), Mackenzie McNeill (Under 14, Kaiapoi) and the two Dunedin youngsters Shani. Ayson (U12 Dunedin), Jessica Mcleod (U12 Dunedin) surfing together in a straight final. Each of the girls gave it their all in the inconsistent conditions but Aletheas strong wave selection, saw her take out the U16 girls ahead of Zarifeh with a 9.14pt ride, that became the highest single wave score of the event.
Mackenzie McNeill won the U14 girls Which left newcomer to the circuit Shani Ayson taking out first and Jessica McLeod second respectively in the U12 girls.
Just after finishing their under 12 boy’s final both Harrison Whiteside(Brighton) and Max Marshall had a five minute break to re-energise themselves to paddle back out to contest the under 14 boy’s final. Impressivley Harrison Whiteside and Max Marshall still had good reserve to compete against Max Cooke (Brighton) and Ashlee Sullivan ( Brighton) . This was a tight final with anyone securing a good scoring ride could of taken it out. But, with a tradesman like manner Harrison Whiteside maintained his composure to consolidate his winning score with Max Cooke coming a close second and Ashlee Sullivan and Max Marshall coming 3rd and 4th respectively.
Although the surf remained messy throughout the day there was once again a strong showing by the talented group of young U12 boy’s. Everyone of them proving that they were up for the challenge and will be standouts to watch in the future surfing events. Harrison Whiteside (New Brighton) once again a double finalist showed skill and commitment to complete the double taking out the U12s with Nick Tuhikarama (North Wai) coming second with Max Marshall (another double finalist) and Sam Sands (North Wai) coming 3rd and 4th respectively.
This the third and final “South Island Grom Series” event was proudly brought to you by Surfing New Zealand, South Island Surfing Association and South Coast Boardriders.
Thanks also to Hydro Surf, Dunedin
Results
Under 16 Boys
1st Sam Courtenay
2nd Cody McCusker
3rd Jordan Durst
4th Tom Bracegirdle
U14 Boys
1st Harrison Whiteside
2nd Max Cooke
3rd Ashlee Sullivan
4th Max Marshall
U12 Boys
1st Harrison Whiteside
2nd Nick Tuhikarama
3rd Max Marshall
4th Sam Sands
U16 Girls
1st Alethea Lock
2nd Kristi Zarifeh
U14 Girls
1st Mackenzie McNeill
U12 Girls
1st Shani Ayson
2nd Jessica McLeod
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
Surfing New Zealand are proudly partnered by:
Export Gold
Hyundai
SPARC
Smokefree
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