the DREAMRUN
SOME ATHLETES, OR IN OUR SPORTS CASE, SURFERS, BURST ONTO THE SCENE WITH ONE REMARKABLE RESULT OR ACHIEVEMENT, AND ARMED WITH NEW FOUND CONFIDENCE GO FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH.
Others, sometimes known as journeymen, toil away for years, grinding out the hard yards in pursuit of their dream. There are many roads to the summit of ones own pinnacle and that is not always simply a competitive result, it could be achieving your very own milestone or dream. How you get there matters not, it’s where you take that once you’re there.
Many competitive or high performance athletes will tell you how important that first taste of confidence can be, after that it is very common for more and more achievements to flow on, this is called being ‘on a roll’. For the quiet, humble, unassuming, and relatively unknown 22 year old Rohan Morris of Canterbury, for two weeks earlier this year hit his straps and not only was on a roll, he went another level - ‘The Dream Run’.
Growing up in the small North Canterbury town of Woodend, while the beach was right on his doorstep, Rohan was a late bloomer of sorts, only taking to the waves at 16 after finding a board laying in his backyard and being a bored teenager took it out with his mate. From that day he was hooked. Back then if you had told him in six years he would be the Canterbury Champ, and chasing down big southern swells on some of the biggest and heaviest waves in the country, you would have got some pretty strange looks.
Working as a roofer, Rohan works full time but surfs whenever he can manage to get out. He is straight up when he says he only has seven sick days a year and usually comes down with some pretty bad flus when the surf looks like it’s about to pump, funny that!
While he admits living as a surfer in the Canterbury region can be frustrating at times, he is thankful he invested in a jet ski, opening doors to more spots up and down the coast that he frequents along with his tight mates Dan ‘Delta’ Smith, Darren Chettle, and the boys. And heads off on adventures away from the howling onshores of his home break Waikuku.
Having started competing casually around five years ago, it was less than two years ago that Rohan wanted nothing to do with big wave surfing. Then when Sam Hawke, a mate of his, returned home from a trip with photos of himself on huge waves, Rohan was inspired and decided then and there he wanted a piece of that action. He was on the blocks of his ‘dream run’.
When the gun sounded at the Go For Gold surf comp held on the West Coast earlier this year, Rohan was looking to be the man that walked away with the ounce of Gold, the illustrious prize that has become the hallmark of this event. He was on fire, not losing a heat all day on his road to the final, but in a display of loyalty that speaks volumes for the man, Rohan walked away from the event unable to compete in the final as he had to get back to the other side of the island for a good mates 21st. He then midweek became sick once again and had to be driven to the very bottom of the island by Chettle and his good mates, to cure his rare illness. He was cured alright, in fact he was given a thorough flush out after taking the biggest beatings of his life on the heaviest waves he had ever witnessed, let alone attempted.
In amongst his tight team the challenges and general banter present drives each one of them to new heights, they haven’t been taken under the wings of any regulars. Travelling their own roads, on their own voyage of discovery to these waves they had watched in awe over the years, not ever thinking one day it would be them. It was a challenge laid down mid run by Chettle that kept the fire raging. After returning from the mission down south and dropped off at his door step, excited at the prospect of another big swell brewing early the following week, Rohan was told by Chettle that unless he won the Canterbury Champs kicking off in a couple of days he wasn’t allowed to come. Rohan laughed but Chettle was more than serious. After all you have to earn ya stripes! Come Sunday night Chettle received a call from the new Canterbury Surf Champ to inform him he was coming on the trip, to take on the biggest waves of his life. He was rolling but not yet running.
Big wave surfing is full of dangers and can be intensely intimidating especially for a new comer, and while Rohan admits that while driving the eight hours south and pulling up to the legendary Papatowai he was a little nervous, that once he got out there, he switched off and simply enjoyed the moment, on the biggest waves of his life. Those four achievements over those two weeks completed his ‘Dream Run’ but by no means is he in any hurry to descend back down. Since those personal milestones Rohan has taken his standards to even greater heights, and is still dreaming. “I’d love to surf every day, whenever I want; to own a massive yacht that takes me around all the islands to surf all those untouched reef-breaks that no one knows about; and to surf 30 foot down south this year. I’m also planning a trip to Teahupoo with Delta, Cammo and Chettle, can’t wait.”