Gisborne Boys High School And Whangamata Area School Girls Triumphant At School Surfing Festival

The Gisborne Boys High School Surfing Team and Whangamata Area School Girls Surfing Team both claimed the prestigious Cranch Cup at the 2026 New Zealand School Surfing Festival completed at Muriwai, Auckland yesterday (Wednesday 25th March).

It is the first time the two teams have claimed victories at the event with the final day of action played out in clean 1.0m waves under wet skies at Maori Bay as the event raced to beat the remnants of the sub-tropical cyclone pushing south.

Twenty one school teams took part in the event this year, with just under 100 participants involved. The festival is integral in surfing’s growth as a recognised sport within schools and our talented surfers getting recognition.

Gisborne Boys High School looked strong in the preliminary rounds as they took on their more favoured opponents including this year’s favourites Mount Maunganui College, two-time defending champions, Whangamata Area School and 2024 finalists Takapuna Grammar.

Gisborne Boys High finished with a 31.34 point heat total across their five surfers in the tag team format. They edged out runner ups Takapuna Grammar on 29.53 points out of a possible fifty.

The Gisborne Boys High School were led by captain Ollie Tong and included Harry McFarlane, Jaxon Pardoe, Archie Alder and James Lalla.

“Yeah, it's amazing. We’ve come a long way up from Gizzy and it’s just so cool to win, all the boys' development recently, it’s a big team effort for us to win,” said team captain Tong.

“I think it was the strong start from Harry (McFarlane) and Archie (Alder) and then Jaxon (Pardoe), and then we just carried it on through to the end, and yeah, it was just a great final, it got pretty close at the end with Takapuna Grammar as well, they came back with a few high scores, and luckily we got a couple mid-range scores to keep us in the hunt and eventual take the win,” added Tong.

Takapuna Grammar finished second, storming back into contention through Jesse Frazerhurst (8.67), Finn Norris (7.33) and Sam Frazerhurst (6.47) but fell just short when the final hooter sounded.

Whangamata Area School Boys (27.91) finished in third place ahead of Mount Maunganui College Boys (25.08).

Whangamata Area School Girls Team battled their opponents through three round robin heats and finished tied on points with Mount Maunganui College. It took a countback of aggregate points across the three rounds to separate the two teams with Whangamata edging out Mount Maunganui – 51.77 v 45.33.

Whangamata Area School needed to win the final round robin match up to force the tie break, the team comprising India Kennings, Lola Groube, Poppy Robinson and Ariella Lansdowne.

“We're super excited and happy to take it out this year out. We've been super close the past two years, so it feels really good to take this win, especially in my last year being able to captain this team, such an amazing group of girls,” said team captain India Kennings.

“We decided it was crucial that we had a couple anchors, like me and Lola at the start, to get those quick good waves and it worked in our favour in the last heat. So yeah, and it worked out perfectly, Ariella (Lansdowne) swooped the last wave off Mount College too, which was clutch for us,” added Kennings.

Mount Maunganui College finished runner up overall ahead of the Auckland composite team in third and Whangamata Area School Team 2 finishing in fourth.

The New Zealand School Surfing Festival encourages participation with the event split into championship and plate rounds after Round 1 to increase opportunities and develop as many school surfers as possible. In the plate round it was a strong Trident High School from Whakatane that edged out Opunake High School by less than a point in the plate final – 21.21 v 20.23 points. Takapuna Grammar Boys Team 2 finished in third place ahead of Rangitoto College Boys Team 2 in fourth.

The New Zealand School Surfing Festival is sanctioned by School Sport New Zealand and part of Summer Tournament Week held annually in March. Full results can be viewed here.

Overall Results
Boys Division

1st Gisborne Boys High School
2nd Takapuna Grammar
3rd Whangamata Area School
4th Mount Maunganui College
5th New Plymouth Boys High School
5th Kaipara College
7th Rangitoto College
7th Westlake Boys High School Red
7th Papamoa College
10th Whakatane High School
10th Westlake Boys High School Green
10th Trident High School Boys 2
13th Trident High School Boys 1
14th Opunake High School
15th Takapuna Grammar Boys 2
16th Rangitoto College
17th Papamoa College Boys 2

Girls

1st Whangamata Area School Girls
2nd Mount Maunganui College Girls
3rd Auckland Composite Girls
4th Whangamata Area School Girls 2

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