Midway capped a successful national championships campaign with gold to Ella Sutton (left) and Emily Petro in the Under-17 women's board rescue – one of the final events of the carnival on Sunday morning. Photo / Jamie Troughton-Dscribe Media
Midway capped a successful national championships campaign with gold to Ella Sutton (left) and Emily Petro in the Under-17 women's board rescue – one of the final events of the carnival on Sunday morning. Photo / Jamie Troughton-Dscribe Media
Midway won eight national titles at the Aon New Zealand Surf Lifesaving championships in Gisborne and their 13 silver and 10 bronze medals were indicative of how hard the home club raced across the four days.
Dawson Building Midway competitors were desperately unlucky in some finals, where the surf had a strong say on who won – notably the Under-19 men’s board relay and U17 women’s taplin finals, where Midway’s last racer was overtaken in the waves by competitors behind them in the closely stages.
The club’s 198 points and fourth overall placing out of 37 clubs were a testament to their efforts, particularly by their U19 and U17 competitors.
Midway's combined age group, open and masters competitors. Photo / Midway Surf Lifesaving Club Facebook page
Midway’s golds were won by their U19 men’s surf team (Tyron Evans, Finn Cameron, Yahni Brown, Jack Lepper), Jacqueline Kennedy in the U17 ski, U19 men’s taplin (Evans, Brown, Lepper), U19 rescue tube team (Brown, Evans, Max Kennedy, James Hamblyn), U19 female taplin (Sophie Petro, Alice Sparks, Kennedy), U19 female ski relay (Petro, Sparks, Kennedy), U17 women’s ski relay (Ella Sutton, Kennedy, Emily Petro) and U17 board rescue (Sutton, Petro).
Midway's young gun ski paddler Jacqueline Kennedy stamped her class on the Under-17 women's ski final with a fine display to take gold. Photo / Jamie Troughton-Dscribe Media
Meanwhile, Waikanae superstar Briana Irving once again stood out in the blue and gold cap, completing an open women’s beach sprint and beach flags title double.
Midway head coach Jack Gavin said it was another “amazing” weekend for the club.
“The kids showed true grit and determination in challenging conditions and really stepped up to the plate when it mattered.
“Our U19 men were dominant again, winning medals in nearly every single event across the championships,” Gavin said.
“With so many awesome results, it’s hard to single anyone out. I’d just like to say how proud I am of the entire squad and what they achieved ... how hard they raced for their mates and the green, white and red cap.”
Kaiaponi Farms Waikanae finished 17th overall on 54 points, including four gold medals, two silver and two bronze.
Club manager Clara Wilson said their water athletes, like everyone else, fought huge surf on Thursday and Friday and showed resilience to make numerous finals.
Brad Douglas, Clancy Ryan and Max Latu made the U15 boys run-swim-run final and Max Phillips made his age-group board final.
“Although Max missed the podium, he continues to impress,” said head coach Arna Mastrovich, who was delighted with the performances of senior team members.
World beach sprint champion Irving did the double with victories in the open women’s flags and sprint and Oska Smith, Seven Mapu and David Gray were 1-2-3 in the open men’s sprint.
“Georgie Beaufoy claimed a close second in the women’s U17 sprint, then there was the gold to our mixed relay team of Oska, Briana, Seven and Georgie, and Seven’s fine win in the open men’s beach flags.”
Waikanae's Seven Mapu dives for the flag ahead of Omanu's Louis Vuleta in the open men's final. Photo / Jamie Troughton-Dscribe Media
“Overall it was an amazing nationals.”
Riversun Wainui finished 21st from with two gold medals, two silver and a bronze.
“Our small Wainui team absolutely loved the wild, changeable conditions that the nationals delivered this year,” head coach Dion Williams said.
“Mako and Rori Fukushima-Hall delivered medals in the board race. As soon as I saw the surf was big, I knew those two boys had a real chance and they lived up to my hopes. Mako got third in the Under-17s and his brother second in the Under-15s.
“Then Rori won the gold in the Under-15 beach flags – he was awesome,” Williams said.
“Our open women’s canoe team was an outstanding success with gold in the short course and silver in the long course canoe. Rachael Williams, Vesna Radonich, Sophie Cook and Belinda Slement were absolutely brilliant.”
* In the final day of the masters competition on Saturday, Midway and Wainui slogged it out for the second and third positions on the points table, swapping positions several times.
In the end, just 10 points separated them, Midway on 182 with 10 golds, 11 silver and eight bronze, and Wainui on 172 with 11 golds, 11 silver and one bronze.
Wainui’s masters canoe crews provided a highlight in the masters competition on Saturday with age-group gold to Matt Logan, Salve Zame, Andrew Reid and Nick Webb.
All three Wainui masters canoe crews won gold in their age groups on Saturday. One of those was Sophie Cook (left), Rachael Williams, Roz Gathercole and Nicole Jones. Photo / Paul Rickard
Age-group gold medals also went to Wainui’s Kate Hill, Sally Bevins, Daniela Lawler and Sarah Wolfe, and to Rachael Williams, Roslyn Gathercole, Sophie Cook and Nicole Jones.
“Our masters team were a shining highlight of our weekend,” Dion Williams said.
“Our team of 23 raced throughout the three days and won medals galore through the different age groups. Hard to single out any of them but Sean Hovell was unreal, Mike King, Rob Hooper, Leigh Sheldrake, Ana Marriott were right at the front of a lot of events and Belinda Slement was the absolute ringleader of our entire masters team.”
In other canoe action on Saturday, the Waikanae men’s crew of Adam Tait, Grant Bramwell, Sean Shivnan and Roger Davies won gold.
