Mount Maunganui win Ocean 17 surf title

CLOSE CONTEST: Papamoa's Jack Hitchfield, right, leads Mount's Daniel Shanahan into the water in the U14 Boys Board Relay final. PHOTO: ANDREW WARNER

Mt Maunganui managed to hold off a late charge from their challengers to take a strong victory at the Oceans 17 national under-14 event lastweekend at Mount Main Beach.

While they were the favourite team to win going into the final day after establishing an early lead on Thursday, a late charge by many athletes meant nothing was guaranteed until the final race held in ideal conditions yesterday.

Omanu Surf Life Saving Club ended up in second place after a strong finish while Waihi Beach Surf Life Saving Club and Waikanae Surf Life Saving Club finished in third equal, meaning it was a hugely successful weekend for Surf Life Saving New Zealand's (SLSNZ) eastern region which runs from Hot Water Beach in Coromandel to Midway Surf Life Saving Club just south of Gisborne.

Rounding out the top five, also from SLSNZ's eastern region, was the team from Whangamata who were only one point away from also finishing in third.

Special mention to Lucy Bartlett from Omanu and Daniel Shanahan from Mount Maunganui who finished as equal highest on the individual medal count with seven.

The top northern region team from Red Beach near Auckland finished in sixth equal with Maranui from the central region next showing how talent exists all around the country in the under-14 category.

Oceans 17 event manager Scott Bicknell said this was probably one of the best Oceans events ever held in Tauranga and paid credit to everyone who took part for allowing that to happen.

"Firstly, a huge congratulations to the Mt Maunganui team for taking the win but also a big congratulations to all the athletes who took part. They did an awesome job out there all weekend and played hard but fair.

"But of course we couldn't have run the event without the dedicated and hard-working group of volunteers and officials. They have worked incredibly hard all week to pull this event off and to be honest, I think it's one of the best we've had, so that's a real credit to them."

Bicknell also said conditions all weekend were "almost perfect" with sunny, warm and dry conditions all weekend, with a reasonable amount of surf each day to keep things interesting.

The next major event on the Surf Life Saving New Zealand sport calendar is the Surf Life Saving New Zealand Nationals, to be held in two weeks' time from March 16-19 at New Brighton beach in Christchurch.

Oceans 17 Club Points
Mt Maunganui Lifeguard Service 56
Omanu Surf Life Saving Club 42
Waihi Beach Lifeguard Services Inc 28
Waikanae Surf Life Saving Club 28
Whangamata Surf Life Saving Club 27
Full results: http://liveresults.co.nz/sls