Dunedin, N.Z (Sunday, Sept 17, 2000).
Local surfer Brett Summerlee took out the surfing leg at the fifth annual Pulsate Boardriderz Surf & Snow event at St. Clair beach in Dunedin on Saturday. In clean 1.5-2.0-metre waves, Summerlee used his local knowledge to overcome a strong current and score highly in the final heat, convincingly winning the Open Men’s division. Summerlee will now carry the advantage when competition moves to Cardrona Alpine Resort for the snowboarding leg of competition on Monday.

Summerlee found his form in perfect time, having cruised into the final with comfortable early performances. In the final, however, the St. Clair local found two high scoring waves early on and never looked like being beaten. In the chase Kaikoura surfer Shaydar Edelmann started well but could not find further high scoring waves, finishing second ahead of Wanaka snowboarder Ste ’en Webster. Edelmann and Webster are well poised to fight for the overall title, both athletes living in Wanaka and snowboarding at Cardrona regularly this winter.

In the Open Women’s division, hot favourite Jess Terrill (Taranaki) could not continue her early form, being caught in the strong St. Clair current and was beaten by Christchurch surfer Katherine Doerr. Kaikoura’s Leilani Morgan and Australian competitor Regina Starinkas were third and fourth respectively.

10-year-old Wanaka snowboarder Kendall Brown put in a solid performance in waves well over her height. Competing within the Open Women’s category, the youngster came very close to making the grand final, just being beaten by Morgan in the last 5-minutes of their semi-final.

New Zealand surfing team member Felix Dickson (Dunedin) proved his favourite tag in the Junior Men’s division, beating off challenges from Llewellyn Thomas (Christchurch) and Jah Harris (Wanaka). Thomas began the final strongly and was leading at the halfway stage but was overtaken by a strong late charge from Dickson.

Pulsate sponsorship coordinator Arthur Klap was happy with the days competition, commenting on the quality of competition. “I was impressed to see the quality of surfing despite the challenging conditions and it was great for the spectators to see such close competition all around. The Pulsate Boardriders event is now perfectly set up for a great finale at Cardrona on Monday.”

Competitors will spend Sunday travelling to Wanaka before the boardercross competition will be held on Monday at Cardrona Alpine Resort.

PULSATE BOARDRIDERZ SURF & SNOW 2000

OPEN MEN
Brett Summerlee, Dun 1
Shaydar Edelmann, Kai 2
Ste'en Webster, Wan 3
Paul Harrison, Dun 4
Andrew Mandsley, Dun 5
Doug Young, Dun 5
Tom Willmot, UK 7
Dwayne Fetch, Wan 7
Adam Dyck, Wan 9
Chris Hogan, Inv 9
Nick Wilson, Wan 11

OPEN WOMEN
Katherine Doerr, Can 1
Jess Terrill, Tar 2
Leilani Morgan, Kai 3
Regina Starinkas, Aus 4
Jana Gibson, Qtn 5
Kendall Brown, Wan (Jnr) 5
Jess Mortimer, Wan 7