St Clair sisters Carla and Steph Laughton capped a magical six-month surf lifesaving season today by dominating the BP Surf Rescue New Zealand IRB championships at Warrington Beach near Dunedin.
The siblings were untouchable amid perfect conditions in the open women's ranks, winning all four titles - the tube rescue, mass rescue, assembly rescue and single rescue.
It also gave them the satisfaction of winning gold medals in all three New Zealand championship carnivals, beginning in October with the State NZ Pool Championships in Hamilton and including their open women's canoe title at the State NZ surf lifesaving championships in Gisborne two weeks ago.
Carla, 27, said it was all part of the culture they're helping to develop at St Clair.
"We try and promote all-round athletes in the club and give them any opportunity to compete in the three main national championships," she said. "It flows through to our lifeguarding as well and we've been the top club for lifeguard proficiency around here for the last few years. We didn't expect to do as well as we have done - we've just been trying to build on what we've got but it definitely makes it pretty satisfying when we come come away with gold medals at every national event and shows that we're on the right track."
