Kibblewhite wins longboard crown

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REPEAT SUCCESS: Thomas Kibblewhite on his way to winning the national longboard championships at Piha.

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Thomas Kibblewhite found time to win his second successive national longboard surfing title at Piha in between running a business and hosting a visiting friend.

Kibblewhite, of Red Beach, defended the title he won last year at the nationals which also doubled as the second leg of the Hyundai Tour.

But he also has his own surfboard repair business to run in Whangaparaoa and so every day he travelled out to the west coast and back.

He was also hosting a friend – Trent Dickey, an Australian-based New Zealander who also competed at the nationals. The pair would surf in their spare time when Kibblewhite wasn't competing or working.

"I think I did about 30 hours work in between trying to compete," Kibblewhite says. "I had people ringing me every day wanting boards repaired so I had to come into work every day at some stage. I'd go out and surf in the morning and if I didn't have to be at the beach I'd come back and go to work for the afternoon."

Kibblewhite clocked up 1500km in one week, including a surfing trip to Raglan with his friend.

It obviously had no adverse effect on his performances though. Kibblewhite surfed consistently throughout and saved his best ride until near the end in the final.

He started with some average scores, then improved to build a lead before scoring a near perfect 9.07 point ride to seal the win.

"Everything went according to plan, even better than to plan. Others needed two scoring waves to get ahead of me. I had a good lead and got a `9' toward the end which pretty much made me untouchable."

There were further good performances from Rodney surfers at the nationals.

Matt Cockayne from Mangawhai made the semifinals and Pakiri's Sam Bradford got to the quarterfinals.

The National Championships was the second of five competitions on the Hyundai tour. The first was at Raglan on January 7 and 8 – an event Kibblewhite won.

The next event is at Sandy Bay between February 3 and 6, with further events at Mt Maunganui on February 18 and 19, and Port Waikato on March 2 and 3.

- © Fairfax NZ News