Surfing: Club contests adds to Gisborne glamour

HIGH FLYER: Mount Maunganui surfer Matt Hewitt in action.PHOTO/PHOTOCPL

Entries are starting to roll in for the National Surfing Championships that take place at Gisborne from January 12-18.

New Zealand's top surfers will not only be competing for themselves but also for their boardrider clubs with an Interclub Championship added to New Zealand's most prestigious surfing event.

It will be the fifteenth time the event has been held at Gisborne and coincides with Gisborne Boardrider Club's 50th Anniversary celebrations.

Surfing New Zealand affiliated boardrider clubs will accumulate points towards the championship in order to find the overall premier boardrider club for 2014. This will add a great team aspect to the event and will have club members supporting one another to get good results.

Ultimately, the club that takes out the championship will prove that they are well rounded with each club's top five results spread across the 23 divisions going toward the points tally.

The five results counted for each club will be broken down as follows: Top Open Men's Division surfer, top female surfer (any division), top junior surfer (any division male or female), top age group surfer (Over 28s-Over 60s) plus the clubs top other result.

The Interclub Championship has not been contested for the past three years. Bay Boardriders from Mount Maunganui currently hold the title after winning in 2010 when they defeated Gisborne Boardriders, Point Boardriders and Whangamata Boardriders in a separate stand-alone event.

"We have had the trophy for a few years now so I guess it is time to put it back up for a challenge and generate some good old club rivalry," commented Bay Boardriders spokesperson Owen Barnes, himself an ex National Junior Champion. "We have a very strong club of surfers at the moment but the Gisborne Boardriders at home will be hard to beat. They have some amazing depth across their entire club. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds."

Gisborne will be able to pull on resources from all over their district including defending Open Men's Division champion Jay Quinn who has indicated a return to New Zealand for the event. Also the likes of older brother Maz, New Zealand's highest internationally ranked surfer Richard Christie, up and coming junior female Jasmine Smith and of course who could forget the likes of John Gisby with in excess of 30 age group titles to his name.

New Zealand has a network of over 30 boardrider clubs scattered along both islands.