TITLES DEFENDED
They came, they surfed, they conquered - again.
Mt Maunganui’s Kehu Butler and Zhana Hutchieson of Taranaki successfully defended their Aotearoa Ma¯ ori open surfing titles at the weekend in dismal conditions at Waitara.
Set to be a two-day competition, a lack of swell kept the surfers from the water on Saturday, which meant all 11 divisions had to be run from start to finish on Sunday.
Butler’s international experience showed throughout the day and displayed his talent to produce scores throwing up a heat score of 17 of a possible 20 in the open men’s final to put the result beyond doubt.
Taranaki’s Jayson Zimmerman was second, Butler’s father Khan was third and Jamie andrews of Taranaki was fourth.
The 17-year-old from Mt Maunganui also defended his under-18 title with a heat score almost double that of second place in the final. Butler now eyes a return to international competition with a World surf League qualifying series 1000 event in Australia this week.
Defending his titles with relative ease, Butler helped Nga¯ ti Ranginui to claim the Iwi of Origin title from hosts Te A¯ ti Awa.
In the women’s competitions, Hutchieson might have lost her under18 crown to Brie Bennett of Raglan, but she fought off a strong challenge in the open division to claim her second title in a row.
The 16-year-old put her local knowledge to great use, holding on for a close win over Kea Smith, Kahana Ngaia and Natasha Gouldsbury.
Despite the conditions being lessthan-ideal for the event, some quality surfing was on display throughout the day.