Omanu outshines local clubs at Eastland Port surf competition

Midway SLSC retained the Ralph Morse Shield for Gisborne surf life saving club competition supremacy at the weekend at Midway Beach in the Eastland Port "Champion of the Bays". Photo / Murray Robertson

Midway retained the Ralph Morse Shield for Gisborne Surf Life Saving club supremacy at the weekend in the Eastland Port “Champion of the Bays” event at Midway Beach.

Dawson Building Midway outscored the other Gisborne clubs convincingly in the carnival with 211 points, followed by Kaiaponi Farms Waikanae with 130, and Riversun Wainui with 22.

That was enough for the host club to keep the trophy, but it was outscored by visiting powerhouse club Omanu, from the Bay of Plenty, which racked up 284 points across the competition.

Omanu beat Mount Maunganui for the first time in many years at the recent Eastern Regional senior championships at the Mount and again showed it will be a force to be reckoned with for Top Club status at the Aon New Zealand championships to be staged at Midway in March.

Visiting Papamoa picked up 157 points at the weekend to finish third, while Waikanae was fourth and Wainui seventh.

Visiting clubs Omanu and Papamoa from the Bay of Plenty scored heaps of points in the Gisborne championships, as they made the most of the race opportunities ahead of the New Zealand titles at Midway next month. Photo / Murray Robertson

Midway’s top performers included Emily Petro with wins in the U17 ski and board, a second and a fourth in the iron races, while Sam Matthews won both his U15 diamond races.

Lilla Hain won both the U15 beach sprint and beach flags, Sophie Petro had top two and three finishes in her open events, while Midway’s Yahni Brown won the open ski, Jack Lepper the open board ahead of Brown, and Tyron Evans was second in the open surf race.

Sophie Petro from Midway (foreground) raced strongly for her club. Photo / Grant Davis at Keepa Digital

Brown had three third placings in the open iron races.

Midway also scored some relay wins and placings.

Waikanae spokesperson Arna Majstrovich said there were some outstanding results and great learnings for its club members over the weekend.

“It was an awesome opportunity to practise in race conditions before nationals,” Majstrovich said.

Waikanae’s Bradley Douglas topped the age group podium winning first overall in the U15s while Clancy Ryan competed in his first senior competition and came away with second place in that age group.

“Georgie Beaufoy was a force to be reckoned with, winning both the U17 and open beach flags and sprints. Seven Mapu won the open beach flags with Oska Smith second. Mapu also won the open beach sprint,” Majstrovich said.

Waikanae rivals Seven Mapu and Oska Smith resumed their beach flags duel from the Eastern Regional Championships, and again Mapu got the winning flag. Photo / Grant Davis at Keepa Digital.

“Gisborne turned on some beautiful conditions and fantastic surf to race in. Congratulations to Midway taking the Ralph Morse shield and thanks to Sonia and her team for putting on another awesome event.”

Wainui’s Mako Fukushima-Hall finished third in the flags and fourth in the beach sprint in his age group, standout results for that club.

“It was great competing back in the senior ranks again,” head coach Dion Williams said.

“Three of our young team got overall placing in their age divisions - Mako was second in the boys U17s‚ Klara Pauwells second in the girls u15s and Charlotte Mcdiarmid third in the girls U15s.

“Whilst our small team was never going to come close in the points for the Ralph Morse shield we contributed to the carnival again, and it’s only going to get better in the future. Congrats to Midway on winning the trophy.”

SLSNZ eastern region sport manager Sonia Keepa said it was great to give the athletes an opportunity to race at Midway Beach ahead of the nationals on March 6-9.

“Midway can be a very technical beach to race at with sandbanks, long run-ins and, if there is a good swell running, the break can change quite quickly. The athletes who raced here over the weekend will have definitely locked in some learnings.

“It’s really great to have supporters such as Eastland Port on board to ensure we are able to put on events like this on, and to Shaw and Partners who sponsor the World Ocean Series,” Keepa said.

“Huge thanks to the travelling clubs from the Bay of Plenty, Coromandel and others from around the lower North Island who contributed to a quality field of athletes and provided some very exciting racing.”