Kehu Butler defends his Maori Titles

Kehu Butler on his way to a repeat double at the Maori Titles event. PHOTO/Col/Surf2Surf.com

Kehu Butler (Ngati Ranginui) and Zhana Hutchieson (Te Atiawa) have defended their titles at the 2017 Aotearoa Maori Surfing Titles presented by Evitan Events over the weekend.

The event was held at Waitara, Taranaki and despite the less than desirable small waves and onshore winds, the weekend's activities were completed in the true spirit of the Maori Titles.

For Mount Maunganui surfer Butler, it was his first event in New Zealand waters this year. His titles in the Open Men's Division and the Under 18 Boys Division repeated his efforts last year and came with relative ease to help Ngati Ranginui to claim the Iwi of Origin from hosts Te Atiawa.

Butler's international experience showed with the 17-year-old starting both finals strongly and then dominating until the final hooter sounded. He posted a 17.0 point heat total out of a possible 20 in the Open Men's Division Final, a performance that had both his peers and his supporters cheering on.

Butler defeated local surfer Jayson Zimmerman (Te Atiawa) who finished in second place with Butler's dad Khan third and another local surfer Jamie Andrews (Te Atiawa) fourth.

Butler now heads to Australia for a World Qualifying Series QS1000 event at Phillip Island this week in a bid to pick up more qualification points and further international experience to finish the competition year.

In the Open Women's Division, it was Hutchieson's local knowledge that helped her come out on top of a low scoring final with a 9.73 point heat total to defend her title.

Hutchieson, 16, won her second title at the event. This year she held off a stern challenge from Kea Smith (Ngati Ranginui) with Kahana Ngaia (Te Atiawa) in third and Natasha Gouldsbury (Te Atiawa) in fourth.

Hutchieson could not complete the double like Butler, finishing runner-up to Brie Bennett (Ngati Hine) in the Under 18 Girls Division.

A quartet of Raglan surfers dominated the Under 16 and 14 Boys Divisions but with differing results in each final. Josef Jungwirth (Ngati Ranginui) claimed his first national win of his short career winning the Under 16 Boys Division while the consistent Jayden Willoughby (Ngapuhi) picked up another win in the Under 14 Boys Division.

For the senior divisions contested, it was Khan Butler who took his son's lead with a win in the Over 35 Men's Division. Local surfer Pipi Ngaia (Te Atiawa) won the Over 45 Men's Division to take home a second medal for the family after his daughter Kahana placed third in the Open Women's Division.

Waitara's Jamie Andrews competed in four finals throughout the day with one win coming in the longboard division while he also finished runner-up in the stand-up paddleboard to Gisborne's Geoff Pardoe (Ngati Porou).

For the first time at the event, an amateur division was contested to give relatively inexperienced surfers a chance at joining in on the action. Young local surfer Patrick Kilmister made the most of his chances to win the division ahead of young Whangarei surfer Journey Lum (Ngapuhi).