The O'Neill Taranaki Grom Comp brings junior surfing back to the West Coast this weekend.

The event bookends the 2022 New Zealand Grom Series with titles on the line across six divisions and over 130 young surfers in action.

Held at Fitzroy Beach, this new grom comp, adds another exciting event to the already stacked calendar for New Zealand's junior surfers.

It is also a great warm up to the New Zealand Scholastic Surfing Championships being held the week directly following the event.

"The Taranaki region has been keen to have a grom comp down here for some time” says New Plymouth Boardriders representative David Farr.

'We are stoked to see the O'Neill Taranaki Grom Comp going ahead this year. We are really looking forward to a fantastic event in 2022 and would love to see the groms return year after year as the final stop on the New Zealand Grom Series.”

Conditions are looking good for the weekend with the this week's winter weather set to pass. The associated swell will also be decreasing throughout the weekend but there will be enough size for some great surfing action at Fitzroy Beach and potentially Back Beach.

Local Natasha Gouldsbury hopes to use her experience from the World Junior Surfing Games in El Salvador and the ISA World Surfing Games in Huntington Beach, USA.

Surfing again at her home beach, Gouldsbury said she is looking forward to participating at home for once, not needing to travel to compete is a huge bonus and we are really looking forward to having the event here, as are many of the other Taranaki groms including Kalani Louis, Skylar Mcfetridge, Spencer Rowson and Soren Bucka Christensen.

After a short winter break the groms will be putting their all into this event with surfers including Kalani Louis(Tara), Tao Mouldey (Mnt), and Alexis Owen (Dun) defending their current number one rankings in their respective divisions.

All three surfers have unassailable leads with Mouldey and Owen having won five events this year.

In the girl's divisions Natasha Gouldsbury (Taranaki) Pia Rogers (WGM) and Poppy Entwistle (Chch) look to hold off the pack of fierce female competitors to keep their number one rankings and take out the title for the year.

Gouldsbury has cemented her number one ranking for the year while Rogers and Entwisle are in close battles with their closest rivals in Leia Millar (Piha) and Lola Groube (Pau) respectively.

The O'Neill Taranaki Grom Comp is part of the wider New Zealand Grom Series which includes the Billabong Grom Series, the South Island Connect Group Grom Series and a number of other individual junior events, it is the final event for the 2022 season.

Surfers from Ahipara down to Dunedin will take part on the weekend in a sold-out event including Under 14, Under 16 and Under 18 divisions with action taking place from 8am – 5pm daily.

"This year's event would not be possible without the support of O'Neill, Pelorus Trust, New Plymouth Surfriders and Surfing Taranaki," says an event organiser.