SURF LIFESAVING
By JAMIE TROUGHTON
FOR all her prowess in the water, there's a wee statistic that really bugs Johanna O'Connor - and the Bay of Plenty surf lifesaving star is hoping home-beach advantage this weekend will help remedy it.
Though she's been a regular in the New Zealand surf team ever since her well-documented, incredibly determined comeback from a horrific accident, her last national surf race crown actually predates that.
It was 2003 when the Mount Maunganui club member last won, the achievement all the more significant because of the calibre of swimmers she beat into the minor placings, with four-time champ Rachael Anderson second and current triathlon star Andrea Hewitt third.
Later that year O'Connor's tenure came to an abrupt halt when she was knocked down by a car in Hamilton. Now she's hoping for an equally abrupt halt to her past misfortune in the race when the NZCT Surf Life Saving championships start in Ohope tomorrow.
"The wave will come for me one day - it will be mine," the Whakatane-raised 25-year-old mused ruefully. "I'm always keen to get it back and I'm gutted to have missed out so many years in a row.
"They always say first around the can, first pick of the wave but it seems every time I get around the can there's no waves and the last person around the can has the pick of them. I've led most of the races since 2003 - just never won them."
O'Connor was one of the first names picked for the New Zealand team heading to July's world championship courtesy of her vast abilities both in pool and on beach. Now she's caught in between with her nationals campaign, unable to taper properly because of her worlds focus but aware of what a fantastic experience it will be to race on the beach she grew up on in front of her friends and family.
"It's quite a deal for Whakatane and it's really good the community has got right behind it because if it works, it's bound to go there again and other sports will realise they can hold big events in Whakatane. Personally too it's going to be quite good - my little brother's coming up from Wellington so I'll have two brothers there with my folks."
Her father Steve is head of the work committee at the event while mum Marja has also been in the thick of things, both taking the week off work to help the Whakatane club prepare.
O'Connor, meanwhile, has high hopes her Mount Maunganui club can emulate their historic Allan Gardner Trophy win last year as the top club.
"Some of the Mount girls are really strong at the moment and training extremely well. Some of them are flying and it's really impressive to see."