Big wins by Gizzy crew at Classic

Waikanae speedster Briana Irving showed the field a clean pair of heels in the beach sprint on both days at the Whangamata Classic surf lifesaving event at the weekend. Pictures supplied

The small Gisborne contingent at the Whangamata Classic surf lifesaving carnival acquitted themselves extremely well at the weekend with wins in the ironman, ski, board and beach events.

One of the major highlights was the performance of Dawson Building Midway’s Sophie Petro who took out the open and under-19 women’s iron races.

“That was a huge result considering Sophie is only a first-year under-19 competitor,” Midway head coach Jack Gavin said.

“She was racing against competitors two-to-three years older than her.”

U17 Midway athlete Yahni Brown raced well, too, with wins in the ironman, board and ski.

“Yahni won all his individual water events on the day,” Gavin said. “He produced a dominant performance.”

Ella Sutton won the u17 female iron event.

Dominant also were Kaiaponi Farms Waikanae’s Briana Irving, Oska Smith and Christy Tate.

“It was a cracking first run out for some of our seniors at Whangamata,” a club spokesperson said.

“It was classic — great to see them representing our club so well.

Irving and Smith won the open women and open men’s beach sprints respectively.

Tate won the open women’s ski.

They also won the mixed beach relay and Seven Mapu was third in the open men’s beach sprint.

Sam Ferkins raced well on the ski.

The Midway crew had a number of seconds and thirds.

Tyron Evans was second in the U19 and open men’s board.

Sutton recorded a second place in the U17 female board.

Emily Petro was third in the board race in her age group.

“Overall it was a great day out for the squad,” Gavin said. “We got some great results but most importantly every athlete raced hard, had some success and got rewarded for the hard work put in over winter.

“The team is improving each carnival and I cannot wait to see what they can achieve in the summer months to come.”

Gisborne athletes also featured prominently in Sunday’s combined team events.

A feature performer was Midway’s Sutton, who cleaned up in the iron events in the team racing against open competitors.

Waikanae’s Irving and Smith dominated the beach events again.

Whangamata turned on small but clean surf conditions on both days.