New Zealand Surfing School Festival: Whangamatā wins big at inaugural event

Whangamatā surfers Harrison Biddle, Jay Tingle and Zeke Wyper celebrate at Muriwai.

A Coromandel school has scooped up a big win at the inaugural New Zealand School Surfing Festival held at Auckland’s Muriwai Beach this week.

Whangamatā Area School claimed the Cranch Cup in the boys’ division, while Mount Maunganui College claimed the cup in the girls’ division.

The Cranch Cup was awarded in honour of school surfing stalwart Carol Cranch, who instigated the New Zealand school surfing programme in the late 80s with the formation of the Scholastic Championships.

Cranch was responsible for the development of numerous top-level surfers around the country and was one of the founding promoters of the World Grommet Titles which ultimately morphed into the ISA World Junior Championships.

A total of 20 teams from 16 schools took part in the event which was held as part of School Sport New Zealand’s Summer Tournament Week.

There were some challenging conditions for the first day of the festival, but for the final day, Māori Bay turned on some great conditions with clean 1 metre to 1.5 metre waves and offshore winds.

Manu Roberts in action at the Muriwai event. Photo / PhotoCPL

Whangamatā boys’ team captain Manu Roberts said he was stoked about the win.

“It was cool to share the win with the team and our whole academy who were supporting us, we were all pretty frothing,” Roberts said.

”The tag team format is always more nerve-racking because you are not just surfing for yourself and you don’t want to let down your team.

”We approached the final with a focus of getting quick mid-range scores to build pressure and leaving plenty of time for our last two surfers to try and find bigger scores if needed.”

The strategy paid off with the lead becoming significant and by the time the final surfers were out in the water, Mount Maunganui College needed an 8.16-point ride to win and they came up just short with the highest wave of the final – 7.33 points.

Chloe Groube from Whangamatā on the water. Photo / PhotoCPL

While Whangamatā Area School clocked up the win in the boys’ division, they had to settle for second place in the girls’ division, succumbing to Mount Maunganui College.

However, Whangamatā didn’t give up without a fight and really pushed the Mount, coming up just short.

Mount Maunganui team captain Sophia Brock said the win just came down to finding the right waves.

“Our main strategy was to get the waves that had good scoring potential and ensuring we didn’t finish with a time penalty.

“Our team culture had been awesome all week, so leading into the final the vibes were high and then after the win on the way home in the van, there was certainly a good buzz.

”It was a whole team effort for us with great support from our coaches and teachers. Most surfing comps are individual events, so it was good to see another team event on the calendar, they are fun and exciting to be a part of.”

The festival included a plate round to promote surfing to as many schools as possible and organisers said it was amazing to see a number of new faces and school surfing teams around.

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