The Rip Curl New Zealand Junior Surfing Team have finished seventh at the 2010 Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championship completed today (Thursday 28th January).
Photos thanks to Craig Levers / ISA.
The event has taken place at Piha Beach, New Zealand over the past eight days with a classic mix of stormy West Coast weather and perfect sunshine and pumping waves.
The surf remained around the 1.0m mark throughout the day. With the full tide in the morning, the surfers utilised the inside righthanders in the middle of Piha Beach. As the tide went out the surfers shifted their attention over to the lefthanders of the Piha Bar.
Kiwis had their chances to march up the ratings table on the final day of the event but fell short early in the morning when they lost their final two surfers – Ben Poulter (Rag) in the Under 16 Boys Repechage Semifinal and Sarah Mason in the Under 18 Girls Repechage Round 7.
Poulter was the highest placed Kiwi placing sixth overall in the Under 16 Boys Division.
“Yeah stoked, definitely a better result than I thought I was going to get” commented Poulter post heat.
After slashing his foot open late on Tuesday, the young surfer had to compete with a coating of numbing gel to ease the pain but he was quick to push that aside as a reason for his loss “My foot was sore but I had some numbing gel and I put that on it so it was fine, it didn’t hurt during the heat” said Poulter.
Poulter had two chances to progress through to the final this morning but placed third in his first heat after surfing to a 12.02 point heat total (out of a possible 20). He got a wave in the dying seconds of the heat requiring 5.72 to progress through to the final. It wasn’t until he was back on the beach surrounded by his team members that the scores were read out as 5.60, agonisingly short of an incredible podium finish for the young Raglan surfer.
“Yeah I don’t know how to describe that loss. It sucked, I don’t know, it was so close I don’t know any other way to describe it.
Poulter refocused and was back in action less than 40 minutes later with a last ditch effort to make the finals. This time around Poulter (10.50) was out-performed by his counterparts from Koa Smith, HAW (14.46), Jake Halstead, USA (12.62) and Kolohe Andino, USA (11.00).
Sarah Mason finished in eighth overall in the Under 18 Girls Division.
“I am really happy to get eighth. I would have liked to do better but I am happy because this is my first time around” said Mason who added “I want to come back and compete in this event and do the best I can and hopefully win a title before I move up a division”. Mason has another three years left in the Under 18 Girls.
The 14-year-olds performance in the second heat of the day was do-or-die and she ultimately placed fourth. Mason scored 10.76 compared with Lakey Peterson, USA (16.34), Alessa Quizon, HAW (15.80) and Canelle Bulard, FRA (12.50).
“There were some good waves in the morning for my heat, it was real fun, I just was simply not in sync with the best waves” commented Mason on loss.
It is the first time a major International Surfing Association event has been held in New Zealand. New Zealand also finished seventh in 2009 when the event was held in Ecuador.
Please see below for the final results of the Rip Curl New Zealand Junior Surfing Team members.
Teams
1 - Australia
2 - Hawaii
3 - USA
4 - South Africa
5 - Tahiti
6 - France
7 - New Zealand
Under 18 Boys Final
1, 19.90, Gabriel Medina, BRA
2, 14.92, Jordin Watson, AUS
3, 14.90, Tamaroa McComb, TAH
4, 12.96, Beyrick de Vries, ZAF
13, Alex Dive (Mnt)
25, Johnny Hicks (Gis)
31, JC Susan (Mount)
37 Blake Myers (WGM)
Under 18 Girls Final
1, 16.00, Tyler Wright, AUS
2, 12.74, Alessa Quizon, HAW
3, 9.72, Sarah Baum, ZAF
4, 9.66, Lakey Peterson, USA
8, Sarah Mason (Gis/Australian based)
15, Alexis Poulter (Raglan)
21, Jayda Martin – Fitzharris (Gis)
29, Grace Spiers (WGM)
Under 16 Boys Final
1, 15.90, Matt Banting, AUS
2, 11.60, Jake Halstead, USA
3, 10.40, Koa Smith, HAW
4, 10.24, Hiroto Arai, JPN
6, Ben Poulter (Raglan)
19, Tane Wallis (Piha)
46, Elliot Paerata – Reid (Piha)
55, Adam Grimson (Gis)
Make sure you check out the write ups, video and images from the event on www.isaworldjuniors.com.
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