Surf livesaving: Anderson opens surf campaign with twin victories

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Glenn Anderson opened his campaign at the New Zealand surf lifesaving championships today in familiar fashion.

The 31-year-old New Plymouth Old Boys competitor grabbed another national run-swim-run title in perfect Mount Maunganui surf, outsprinting Midway's Mike Janes in the final 40m.

In the 10 times the race has been run since the run-swim-run was introduced in 2002, Anderson has now won it six times and finished second twice, but this one was extra sweet as he comes back from taking six months off after last year's world championships.

"I wasn't sure what races I was going to do this weekend but I got through my board heat and won my board semi and got a lot of confidence from that," Anderson said.

"I thought my season would only involve Surf League this year but it's nice weekend in Mount Maunganui and I'm just still happy to be out there and still competitive."

The women's run-swim-run was taken out by Mount Maunganui's Aimee Berridge, with the Queensland-based Kiwi getting the jump on defending champion Ayla Dunlop-Barrett.

Anderson added another title on a busy opening day, also taking out the open tube rescue title with clubmate Isaac Owen, while Dunlop-Barrett and Ellish Hurley completed a good day for the Taranaki club by winning the women's tube rescue.

There was heartbreak for nine-time beach flags champion Morgan Foster, who again fell at the last hurdle in his pursuit of a 10th win.

Instead, it was long-time rival Paul Cracroft-Wilson who grabbed his fourth win in the last five years, underscoring his status as the current world champion.

"The boys have really stepped it up this year and that was probably one of the hardest finals I've ever been involved in, especially in New Zealand but that's the one I've wanted all year," Cracroft-Wilson said.

The women's flags crown again went to South Brighton's Chanel Hickman but the win was made sweeter when she stunned visiting Australian world champion Melissa Howard in the final.

"The key was wanting it really, really badly and knowing that this was my home beach and there was no way I was going to let an Aussie take the title," a jubilant Hickman said.

"To know that I'm up there is a massive confidence boost for Aussies and it's an incredible feeling knowing that's the league I'm in now."

Mount Maunganui also collected a win in the women's board rescue through Johanna O'Connor and Arna Wright and helped the host club take an early lead in the overall standings.

Mount are on 31 points, six ahead of New Plymouth Old Boys with Papamoa another point behind.

- NZPA