William Matthews goes off the lip in style on his way to a fourth-place medal at the New Zealand Scholastics Surfing Championships in Dunedin in the Under-18 boys' division.
William Matthews goes off the lip in style on his way to a fourth-place medal at the New Zealand Scholastics Surfing Championships in Dunedin in the Under-18 boys' division.
Three Gisborne teenagers returned home from the New Zealand Scholastic Surfing Championships last week in Dunedin with medals in their age divisions.
Charlotte McDiarmid (Under-14 girls), William Matthews (U18 boys) and Te Waiotu Fairlie (U18 girls) picked up fourth-placed medals after making their respective finals.
William Matthews performed well in the highly competitive boys U18 boys' division.
“Stunning weather for the championships helped produce some great results for our Tairāwhiti team,” said surfing spokeswoman and former New Zealand open women’s champion Holly Quinn.
In the U18 boys’, Max Phillips placed ninth and Flynn McGregor and Austin Fergus 17th-equal.
Gisborne were seventh in the team standings topped by Auckland.
“Te Waiotu now heads off to the Aotearoa Maori surf titles as possibly a hot favourite to take out the Under-18 title,” Quinn said.
Te Waiotu Fairlie has turned her attention to the Aotearoa Māori championships later this month, where she will be a strong contender in her age division.
That event is being held at the end of the month at Ahipara in Northland.
Te Waiotu Fairlie was all smiles after placing fourth in the U18 girls' division at the National Scholastic Surfing Champs.
“It is expected that a strong contingent of local surfers will compete,” Quinn said.
“The next local event in Gisborne, staged by Kegged, is the Froth Fest, an ongoing fundraiser for the scholastics kids’ fund.”
