"It has been a challenging year as we had to do things like train out of containers. In the long run that kind of thing made us a bit harder and more determined. The whole weekend has been fantastic. I have a great management team and coaches and great support that are behind these athletes. The camaraderie has been great and they really have worked hard for each other."
Mount Maunganui excelled in the relay events and Bryant says it is all about doing the little things right. Having the championships at home was an advantage also, he says.
"We have had anywhere up to five-foot waves, but it has been a mixture of conditions. If you sit there and read the ocean well, you will get the best out of it."
One of the final events on Sunday was the men's Taplin relay event where 18-year-old Lochlainn O'Connor just missed out on winning another gold medal for his Mount Maunganui Club. After a sprint finish, the team was beaten by Mairangi Bay. After competing in eight events, were he won two gold and one silver medal, O'Connor was shattered but pretty happy with his team's effort.
"I am still buzzing. The whole team environment was awesome. It was not just the winning part. At the end in the last race, next to another competitor, running up the beach for that gold medal, I could just see an alleyway of people it was it was awesome. [There was] that pain, but it was a great pain to have.
"The team came through, when someone was down we pulled them up. When we were up we were up , there weren't many times we were down."
The star of the weekend was Mairangi Bay's Danielle McKenzie who, just a week ago won six medals at the Queensland State Championships. McKenzie dominated at Mount Maunganui, winning nine gold medals.
"I like a little bit of surf as it keeps it challenging," McKenzie says.
"I made a little mistake in my board race, but as long as you can stay cool calm and collected and under control you just think about how to work your way back into first place. It is not stressing about the outcome, thinking about what you can do and ticking the processes off. The outcome will be there.
"I am really glad I did come back, there are so many awesome competitors."
Midway competitor Cory Taylor has also been in form in Australian competitors and claimed four titles at the Mount – one of them being the ironman title.
"I was pretty nervous going in, it was a really short course out there. I wanted to try and get away and get on my own wave, but a few of us come together. The hard bit is after the hard run, your heart rate is really up and then you have to calm yourself down.
"It was god coming back as it helps the sport being in the team with the younger people. The 16 – 19 numbers are so big in our sport and that is one reason Australia are so competitive."
The event was kicked off by the masters competitions on Thursday, where Ōmanu retained their overall points title, finishing 35 points clear Mount Maunganui.
Overall club points tally:
1st: Mount Maunganui - 147.
2nd: Mairangi Bay, 97.
3rd: Waikanae, 90.
4th: Titahi Bay, 57.
5th: Ōmanu, 53.
6th: East End, 50.
7th: Midway, 50.
8th: Orewa, 39.
9th: Red Beach, 37.
10th: Ocean Beach Kiwi, 35.
