Mount Maunganui's Kea Smith was a clear winner in the under 18 girls division. Photo / PhotoCPL
Mount Maunganui's Kea Smith was a clear winner in the under 18 girls division. Photo / PhotoCPL
Raglan surfers claimed three of eight series titles at Piha yesterday as the third and final event of the Billabong Grom Series presented by Oceanbridge reached its finale.
Brie Bennett, Kora Cooper and Jayden Willoughby all won their respective divisions for Raglan while Bay of Plenty and Northland shared twotitles with one going to Taranaki.
The surf was clean throughout the day with a swell of up to 1.0m and light winds for the entire event, the best waves the series has experienced this year.
Kea Smith (Mount Maunganui) only rode two waves in the final of the under 18 girls division, and that was all she needed to win the final and the series. Smith surfed to a 7.17 for one long right-hander ridden into the Cove and finished with a 12.6 point heat total.
Tiana — Breeze de Mooij (Mount Maunganui) finished the final in second place after being left requiring a 6.74 for the win. Event two winner Aimee Brown (Great Barrier) finished in third ahead of local Piha surfer Gabrielle Paul in fourth.
Manu Scott — Arrieta (Sandy Bay) claimed his third straight win in the under 20 boys division to easily claim the overall series. Scott — Arrieta posted a 15.76 point heat total defeating Waihi Beach surfer Zac Curle (10.7). Fraser Falconer (Auck) placed third in the final ahead of Eli Voschezang (Auck) in fourth.
Indica Ratima (Rag) defended her title in the under 20 girls division. Ratima left it until the last 30 seconds when she scratched into a small wave and score a 4.57 point ride — enough to bump her from second to first ahead of overall series winner Billie Scott (Whangarei). Lily McDonald (Te Aroha) placed third in the final ahead of Phoebe Greenwood (Auck) in fourth.
Caleb Cutmore won his second event of the series in the under 18 boys division but due to missing one event, was not in contention for the overall series win. Cutmore posted the day's highest score of 16.43 points out of a possible 20 points. Cutmore was pushed throughout the final by local surfer Shane Kraus who finished with a 12.67 point heat total when his last wave was caught just after the final hooter. Overall series winner Jared Gebert (Ohope) finished in third place ahead of Max Brunker (Whngrei) in fourth.
Whakatane surfer Jack Lee claimed his first win of the year in the under 16 boys division posting a 15.16 point heat total. Lee posted a 6.33 and an 8.83 as his first two rides in the final, and that was enough for the win. However, it was Oakura surfer Tom Butland who fought back with a 7.77 point ride to challenge the lead. Butland had to settle for second.
Whangarei surfer Tom Robinson finished in third place which was one place short of the requirement to clinch the series which went to Kora Cooper (Rag) despite his first round exit at the event. Myka Black (Chch) finished the final in fourth place.
Natasha Gouldsbury (Tara) clinched her first win of the series in the under 14 girls division and in doing so, won the overall series. It was Gouldsbury's last wave of 4.77 points that pushed her into the lead ahead of local girl Liv Haysom (Piha) who finished runner-up for the second event in a row ahead of Ava Henderson (Chch) in third and Anna Brock (Mount Maunganui) in fourth.
