Bartlett strikes vein of rare gold

Lucy Bartlett won six gold medals at the Bay of Plenty Junior Championships held at Waihi Beach last Sunday. Photo / Geoff Brown

Former New Zealand surf lifesaving coach Scott Bartlett was hoping his 10-year-old daughter Lucy might win a medal or two at the Bay of Plenty Junior Championships held at Waihi Beach last Sunday.

But Lucy startled dad and everyone else by winning six gold medals on debut for her club Omanu in the 11 and under category.

She was unbeatable on the sand and in the water, winning the beach flags, beach sprint, run-swim-run, surf race, board race and diamond race.

Bartlett said he was proud of her performance, both as a father and coach.

"From the father's side it was awesome because she did really, really well and got a few gold medals. She had a real good go at every single race and it was a real treat to watch that," he said.

"From a coach's point of view, she had done the training. She said she wanted to do the six races and she went out there and did it. It was quite amazing to sit there from both a coach and also a father's point of view and try and merge the two."

Lucy's dominance on the sand and in the water at one event is rare and remarkable.

"If it has been done before it would be only once or twice, purely because you get a lot of specialists on the sand and you get people who are very good in the water," Bartlett said. "But to do both sides of the equation is quite special."

Lucy, whose mother Jackie Read is a former national representative, helped Omanu take out the team title with 181 points, ahead of Papamoa (143), Mount Maunganui (141) and Waihi Beach (93). More than 400 juniors aged from 10-14 attended the championships, with clubs from all over the North Island represented.

Omanu are the national junior team champions. Bartlett says they are looking good to make it a memorable three peat of titles at the Ocean 16 under-14 nationals at Mount Maunganui in March.

"The Omanu club is doing a really good job and have some really good programmes and systems in place. They are the current national junior champions for the last two years and are doing the right things to head for that three in a row."

The next big junior event is the Papamoa Junior Invitational on January 23, followed by the Eastern Region championship on February 13-14 in Gisborne, with the New Zealand under-14 nationals (Oceans 16) at Mount Maunganui from March 3-6.