A Bay of Plenty surfing team was one point away from winning Australasia’s largest junior club competition after producing more individual division winners than any other club at the event.

Bay Boardriders finished third out of 44 teams at the Kirra Junior Teams Challenge on Queensland’s Gold Coast, with six of its seven surfers winning their divisions.

Club president James Jacobs said no other team matched the club’s six division victories, a performance that caught the attention of competitors and officials.

Under the event’s points system, one lower-placed finish proved the difference between first and third.

The team comprised under-12 surfer Arlo Scorringe, under-14 surfers Ffeon Clifford and Solomon Ryan, under-16 surfers Vitor Bauermann and Haru Marsden, and under-18 surfers Taimana Marupo and Tyler Stenzel.

They spent a week on the Gold Coast, with the competition running over three days.

The invitation was the result of relationships built through the World Club Championships, where Bay Boardriders has represented New Zealand clubs for the past three years after winning the New Zealand Club Championships.

“It sort of meant our older guys that got us to the worlds have created this opportunity for our younger team,” Jacobs said.

Jacobs said people at the Gold Coast competition would approach the team saying: “Man, you guys are the talk of the competition” and asking, “Who the heck are you guys?”

One of the head judges approached Jacobs, “impressed” by the team’s performances and the way the surfers supported each other during the event.

Jacobs said the event gave the boys the opportunity to test themselves against some of Australia’s top young talent while also experiencing world-famous breaks such as Kirra and Snapper Rocks.

They got to meet some of their “surfing heroes”.

Jacobs said the experience was about more than just surfing.

“It was such a good feeling to surf in a team event where the boys were not only surfing for themselves, but for each other,” Jacobs said.

For some members of the team, it was their first visit to Australia. Jacobs said many of them want to go back already and one day live on the Gold Coast.

He acknowledged the support of sponsors who helped make the trip possible, including Statement Pools, Moon Civil Construction, Iline Construction, Ray White Bayfair, Astrolabe, NZ Windows and Mount Surf Shop.

“We’ve got such a good surf community here in the Bay and we’re just really thankful of all their support.”

Attention will now turn to the World Club Championships next February, with Bay Boardriders also hoping to send both boys’ and girls’ teams to next year’s Kirra Junior Teams Challenge.

Annabel Reid is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and the Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke’s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.