The NMD/Mountain Dew Blaketown challenge was run over Queens Birthday weekend the 5-7th June 2010. The 'barber' (wind and cloud from the Southern Alps) was in full force first thing in the morning with howling offshore winds powering down from recently snow capped mountains. Large and tricky conditions greeted riders with heavy, straight closeouts lining the beach. Judges rugged up well in sleeping bags, puffer jackets, nana's old blankets and anything that they could find in order to fight the frigid conditions.
Early round standouts were the recently returning to competition local, Ben Smith, who blitzed his heat with local knowledge, smooth rolls and reverses. Jolan Kilkelly, another local, showed great wave knowledge linking long rights into the inside shore break where he hit a number of smooth airs and dominated his dropknee heats along with Tim Bromley. Port Waikato's Bronn Foster found some small invert and roll sections and Ben Mackinnon managed a few large roll and invert sections out the back to progress.
Unlucky riders on the first day of competition in the Open Men's were Port Waikato's Willy Nepia-Murray not really able to find time to get to a section to hit. In the Drop knee Wellingtons Sam Peters couldn't really find a workable wave face but unleashed a power hack to floater after the buzzer. Another Open Men's victim, Tim Bromley suffered the fate of being sucked around the Blaketown gryne and across the river to the next beach, but luckily having some local knowledge he was able to make it home!
The second day of competition brought with it arguably the best waves of the New Zealand Bodyboarding Tour this year. The swell had swung more North from the previous days South swell bringing with it A-frame peaks and hollow waves which allowed those still in the contest an opportunity to really show spectators great bodyboarding. The weather took a turn for the worst though with howling off shore winds, sleet, hail and freezing rains which forced judges into a nearby ute sitting up on the rocky groyne. Some great riding went down during these heats with barrels, inverts, big rolls and ARS's.
First to hit the water was the Under 18's, Women's and Under 16's which were run as one heat. Most competitors opting for the inside shore break which offered a few barrel's and bowls. Erica Cusack won her division, with Willy Nepia-Murray winning the Under 16's and winning the Under 18's with nice spin and roll combination's.
The Senior Men's final saw the highest scores of the event with Ben Mackinnon posting 18.53 out of a possible 20 with two huge inverts on the outside bank and taking the win with Terry Ferguson hot on his heels finding great sections as well.
The Amateur Men's final was dominated by Hamilton's Alan Downing with Blaze Viellanski coming close, but not able to find the larger waves that Downing found during the heat.
The Dropknee final saw some of the few Dropknee barrels to go down with Greymouth's Jolan Kilkelly finding barrels and open faces to comfortably take the title and a title he that has eluded him for many years. Coming in a very close second place was Tim Bromley.
Under 21's saw some great wave conditions with Port Waikato's Matt Haldane winning the event finding some elusive barrels and sections to wrestle the title from Christchurch's Aran Nasmith.
The Open Men's finals were held in some rapidly worsening conditions with the wind swinging slightly onshore. Riders had a tough time with Terry Fergusson and Ben Mackinnon finding the better waves. Mackinnon managed a huge closeout roll which he linked to the inside shore break to find a barrel and a few rolls along with an ARS off the outside bowl which he again linked to the inside shore break for another small cover up and a roll.
Prize giving was held at a private venue in Greymouth with a large turnout, lots of table tennis and pizzas and beer put on for all who attended. As far as prizes went this contest was a cut above with cash prizes from the Greymouth organizers as well as boards and bodyboarding/ surfing hardware on offer from Isolated Shop, NMD and VS's as well as the TRB's and Westside Surf and Street. Mountain Dew flowed strongly through the event fuelling the competitor's massive paddling efforts over the two days of competition. Ben Mackinnon who won the Senior Men's division walked away with the illustrious Blaketown painting.
A great event was enjoyed by all who attended and a thank you has to go out to all those judges and organizers who endured some extreme weather conditions to make this event happen. Also a thank you to every competitor who put on his or her wet and cold wetsuit in the pouring and freezing rain. These are the people who make these events happen and make them all the more memorable.
Results:
Open Men
1st Ben Mackinnon
2nd Terry Ferguson
3rd Bronn Foster
4th Jolan Kilkelly
Dropknee
1st Jolan Kilkelly
2nd Tim Bromley
3rd Bayden Barber
4th Ben Smith
Senior Men
1st Ben Mackinnon
2nd Terry Ferguson
3rd Dean Briggs
4th Jolan Kilkelly
Amateur Men
1st Alan Downing
2nd Blaze Viellanski
3rd Mike Gibson
U21
1st Matt Haldane
2nd Aran Naismith
3rd Paul Van der kwaak
U16
1st Willy Nepia Murray
U18
1st Willy Nepia Murray
Open Women
1st Erica Cusack
We would like to thank the following sponsors also:
NMD Bodyboards
Mountain Dew
Isolated
TRB's Greymouth
Westside Surf and Street
Greymouth Top 10 Holiday Park
McDonalds Greymouth
Liquor King Greymouth
Tai Poutini Polytech
Mexican Cafe
Do Duck In Bakery
Jade
Kilkelly Builders
