Surfing NZ
New Zealand Representatives explode into Semifinals
New Zealand representatives Raiha Ensor and Elin Tawharu exploded into the semifinals of the Under 20 Girls Division on Saturday 29th April ahead of the final day of the Backdoor GromBash being held at Manu Bay, Raglan this weekend.
The pair of Mount Maunganui surfers posted big 14.57 and 14.67 point heat totals in their early morning match-ups and will meet each other in the first semifinal of the division set to be contested early on tomorrow morning.
The surf remained a solid 1.0m throughout the day and the light northerly winds turned more easterly as the day went on making for great waves at Raglan’s acclaimed point break.
Tawharu will be the first of the two to represent New Zealand and indeed flies out to Brazil tomorrow afternoon to compete in the International Rip Curl GromSearch final. Tawharu is travelling alongside Caleb Cutmore (Ham) who was also in action at the Backdoor GromBash today.
Ensor is also preparing for the World Surfing Games which are being held in France at the end of May and has only returned to New Zealand this week after competing in Australia. Ensor will pair up with Ella Williams (WGM) as the two female representatives at the event.
Both surfers will also be aiming for selection in the New Zealand Junior Surfing Team which is named in under two weeks’ time.
Today, the two surfers were joined by Saffi Vette (Gis) and Claudia Fraser (Piha) in the winners’ circle, Fraser now having the best opportunity to take the number one ranking from Billie Scott (Whangarei) with a good result tomorrow after Scott was eliminated from the event.
In the boys divisions, it was hard to go past several performances from the surfers in the Under 14 Boys. Notably, Oakura’s Tom Butland surfed his way through to two semifinals today including the Under 14 and 20 divisions.
Butland will face the two competing Australians in Axel Rose – Curotta and Saxon Reber along with local surfer Josef Jungwirth in the first semifinal of the Under 14 Boys Division.
Kora Cooper (Rag) is another young surfer that will contest two semifinals in the Under 14 and 17 Boys Divisions. However, it was Coopers good mate Jayden Willoughby that found the best rhythm on day two of the event surfing to a near perfect 18.4 point heat total in his quarterfinal match up – the highest heat score of the day. The two will match up against another Raglan surfer in Navryn Malone and Jack Hinton (Mnt) tomorrow.
Under 17 Boys Division ratings leader Caleb Cutmore (Ham) looked comfortable in not only advancing to the final of the Under 17 Boys Division but also the Under 20 Boys Division. And ratings leader of the Under 20 Boys Division, Harrison Whiteside advanced through to the semifinals as well surfing on borrowed equipment after a horrid 24 hours at Raglan which saw him break his only two boards he brought north.
Coincidentally it was Whiteside’s biggest opponent in the Under 20 Boys Division, Taylor Hutchison (Rag) that came to his rescue with loaned equipment. The two surfers will not match up until the final, should they advance out of the semifinals tomorrow morning.
The surf is expected to drop slightly for the final day of the event with onshore westerly winds tending strong southerly forecasted for late in the day. Semifinals will take place from 8am on the final day with finals taking place from midday.
Please see below for results from day two of the Backdoor GromBash held at Manu Bay, Raglan today, Saturday 29th April.
Under 20 Boys Division Quarterfinals
Heat 1
Jay Piper – Healion (Whiti), 14.57, 1, Tom Butland (OaKura), 11, 2, Lee Ririnui (Mnt), 7.8, 3, Harry Macintosh (Rag), 6, 4
Heat 2
Jared Gebert (Ohope), 13.83, 1, Harrison Whiteside (ChCh), 12, 2, Shane Kraus (Piha), 10.83, 3, Reef Matthews (Tara), 8.23, 4
Heat 3
Taylor Hutchison (Rag), 17.23, 1, Caleb Cutmore (Ham), 12, 2, Manu Scott Arrieta (Sandy Bay), 9.4, 3, Max Brunker (Whangarei), 8.37, 4
Heat 4
Callum Chuter (Tau), 13.77, 1, William Van Der Beek (Mnt), 11.57, 2, Tom Norton (Waipu), 10.33, 3, Taylor O’Leary (Mur), 9.1, 4
Under 17 Boys Division Round of 32
Heat 1
Shane Kraus (Piha), 12.33, 1, Tom Butland (Tara), 9.3, 2, Jack Lee (Whaka), 8.83, 3, Alex O’Dwyer (Whaka), 5.43, 4
Heat 2
Joel Clegg (Tara), 12.6, 1, Tom Norton (Waipu), 11.7, 2, Thomas Carter (Waihi Bch), 9.8, 3, Jayden Willoughby (Rag), 8.97, 4
Heat 3
Lee Ririnui (Mnt), 12.4, 1, Axel Rose – Curotta (AUS), 9.53, 2, Myka Black (Chch), 8.07, 3, Hunter Peterson (Tara), 5.33, 4
Heat 4
Caleb Cutmore (Ham), 10.67, 1, Saxon Reber (AUS), 9.97, 2, Max Brunker (Whangarei), 8.37, 3, Daniel Robertson (Lwr Hutt), 5.4, 4
Heat 5
Conor McLennan (Chch), 10.7, 1, Finn Vette (Gis), 9.83, 2, Jack Rosewarne (Ham), 7.7, 3, Olie Meadows (Waiheke), 4.9, 4
Heat 6
William Van der Beek (Mnt), 10.7, 1, Luke Griffin (Mnt), 10.5, 2, Jay Piper – Healion (Whiti), 9.53, 3, Josef Jungwirth (Gis), 7.83, 4
Heat 7
Jared Gebert (Ohope), 12.53, 1, Tom Robinson (Whngrei), 10.83, 2, Tyler Carrington (Wgtn), 8.4, 3, James Ririnui (Mnt), 7.9, 4
Heat 8
Dylan Preston (Whmata), 13.7, 1, Kora Cooper (Rag), 11.6, 2, Jack Hinton (Mnt), 9.37, 3, Taylor O’Leary (Mur), 7.63, 4
Under 17 Boys Quarterfinals
Heat 1
Shane Kraus (Piha), 13.77, 1, Axel Rose – Curotta (AUS), 13.37, 2, Saxon Reber (AUS), 10.37, 3, Joel Clegg (Tara), 9.3, 4
Heat 2
Lee Ririnui (Mnt), 13.5, 1, Caleb Cutmore (Ham), 12.57, 2, Tom Norton (Waipu), 8.7, 3, Tom Butland (Tara), 5.371, 4
Heat 3
William Van der Beek (Mnt), 11, 1, Kora Cooper (Rag), 9.6, 2, Tom Robinson (Whngrei), 9.23, 3, Conor McLennan (Chch), 8.93, 4
Heat 4
Dylan Preston (Whmata), 13.43, 1, Jared Gebert (Ohope), 13.23, 2, Luke Griffin (Mnt), 10.6, 3, Finn Vette (Gis), 7.4, 4
Under 14 Boys Division Quarterfinals
Heat 1
Josef Jungwirth (Rag), 14.2, 1, Tom Butland (Tara), 11.7, 2, Myka Black (Chch), 10, 3, Reef Newdick (Mnt), 7.73, 4
Heat 2
Saxon Reber (AUS), 13.83, 1, Axel Rose – Curotta (AUS), 13.13, 2, Finn Vette (Gis), 10.47, 3, Jay Gordon (Waihi Beach), 7.07, 4
Heat 3
Jack Hinton (Mnt), 12.83, 1, Kora Cooper (Rag), 11.87, 2, Kava Matthews (Tara), 6.47, 3, Mitchell Dalley (Mnt), 5.07, 4
Heat 4
Jayden Willoughby (Rag), 18.4, 1, Navryn Malone (Rag), 10.6, 2, Tom Robinson (Whngrei), 10.53, 3, Jack Luke (Tara), 6.57, 4
Under 20 Girls Division Quarterfinals
Heat 1
Raiha Ensor (Mnt), 14.6, 1, Tegen Bishop (Chch), 8.43, 2, Isabella Woolleston (Chch), 5.23, 3, Aimee Brown (Auck), 4.2, 4
Heat 2
Elin Tawharu (Mnt), 14.6, 1, Zhana Hutchison (Tara), 11.9, 2, Gabrielle Paul (Auck), 10.8, 3, Billie Scott (Whangarei), 8, 4
Heat 3
Saffi Vette (Gis), 13.3, 1, Ariana Shewry (Tara), 11.6, 2, Estella Hungerford (Chch), 6.93, 3, Janee Armstrong (Chch), 1.03, 4
Heat 4
Claudia Fraser (Auck), 11.3, 1, Tiana – Breeze de Mooj (Mnt), 10.8, 2, Indica Ratima (Rag), 9.8, 3, Georgia Wederell (Mnt), 9.57, 4