BP New Zealand Championships Waikouaiti, Dunedin 6th & 7th April
It was a nail-biting finish at BP New Zealand IRB Championships, Dunedin. The current IRB racing world-championship holders, Sunset Beach Lifeguard Service clawed back a win in the last few nail-biting races of the weekend, to retain their national title in a weekend of fast and technical Inflatable Rescue Boat racing.
About 310 surf lifeguards from throughout the country took part in the annual BP New Zealand IRB Championships at Waikouaiti Beach, north of Dunedin, on Saturday and Sunday. Going into the competition, event organiser Scott Bicknell said Port Waikato’s Sunset Beach LS were the ones to beat. In November a team of eight IRB racers from Sunset Beach claimed the inaugural gold medal in IRB racing at the Lifesaving World Championships in Adelaide. But Dunedin’s St Kilda and St Clair SLS clubs, and Auckland’s Mairangi Bay SLSC were also putting forward large and skilled teams, and had done well in the North and South Island rounds earlier this year.
Bicknell says St Kilda SLSC led the club points for much of this weekend, threatening an upset, but in the final few races Sunset Beach overtook them on the scoreboard. St Kilda SLSC held second place, and East End SLSC, from New Plymouth, took third, with some good “gnarly waves” mixing the challenges up on Saturday, and gentler waves for Sunday’s racing. “It was pretty fast racing, it really came down to the wire. St Kilda was sitting in the front up until the singles races. Which Sunset came out in top of – one of the last few races, and they pulled it back.”
IRB racing, is fast and technical, and thrilling to watch - with boats hitting the waves as they race from the beach out to the sea, to carry out simulated rescues. All the athletes are surf lifeguards, and it mimics real rescue skills they use when they spring into action to save lives.
Waikouaiti locals were impressed with the display – Bicknell says a number of people out walking on the beach went home to get their families, then came back to watch the racing. “It’s about skills and technical ability – it’s a finely tuned discipline, and any errors can result in quite substantial changes in your points, so we had a few upsets. “It was quite impressive, everyone was glued to the points table.” Sunset Beach SLS showed intensity with a “high performance” determined focus. Whereas St Kilda SLSC has an up-an-coming team especially strong in the younger age groups, with “a lot of depth” and new skills emerging, Bicknell said. The high strength of skills throughout the competition is a bonus for surf lifesaving skills throughout the country, with these same skills being put to good use throughout the year saving people’s lives on our beaches, he said.
Mt Maunganui, 22nd to 24th March
The Sunset Beach Young Guns and Sunset Sirens competed in the Surf Life Saving National Championships at Mt Maunganui over three days, 22nd to 24th March. The Young Guns finished the weekend with two bronze medals for both the Long and Short Courses in the U23 Men’s Surf Boat races. They were also awarded the Silver medal for the U23 men’s NZ Surf Boat Series. It was a long weekend of hard competition with some large, choppy surf and wet weather thrown in. Sunset Beach Lifeguards wish them all the best as they prepare to go to the Austrailian Championships at Kurrawa in two weeks. Should be a great experience for this team and no better place to do it than against the top class Australian Teams.
The Sunset Siren’s just missed out on a third place in the Long Course final after a photo finish for 2nd, 3rd and 4th put them in 4th place. They were also 4th in the short course final. Roma Prangley said the girls were stoked with the result and plan to win next season... Training starts on Wednesday. Go girls... 4th in the country after 4 months of rowing!
Taylor Shrimpton put in a big effort in the Open Women’s 2 km run for a 5th placing and Tanisha Robertson had a mid-pack finish in the run-swim-run for U19 Women’s. Sunset Beach Lifeguard Service think it’s awesome to see these competitors having a go and represent Sunset Beach in the Surf Sport Nationals. There are 2,000 other elite surf life savers from all over New Zealand that attend this National event. We hope to build our surf sport teams and offer as much opportunity as we can for our lifeguards to train and compete.
Big ‘thank you’ to Carolyn Edwards who also gives up her time to be an official at these events. She spent 4 days on the beach at Mt Maunganui. Very long days.
Sunset Beach travelled to Waikouaiti, Dunedin in the South Island to compete in the BP New Zealand IRB South Island Champs on 16th March. Congratulations Sunset Beach, it was a close result on team points but for the 1st time they have won the South Island Champs with 140 points, St Kilda on 131 points.
It felt a bit like a raid on their treasure to add this trophy to our accomplishments this season but you can be assured, they did not make it easy for us and it was well earned. Good all round results from the whole team.
The team enjoyed their accommodation at a Girl Guide Camp not far from Waikouaiti Beach. They will use it again in a few weeks time.
The IRB teams will travel to Waikouaiti in Dunedin again in a few weeks to defend their Top Club title at the New Zealand IRB Championships, 4th to 6th April. We expect conditions to be rather chilly so packing all the woollies and thick wet suites. Some of the patients will be in the water many times during the day, keeping warm is a mission. Not an envious team position when we travel South, but they can take pride in their contribution to the team.
Sunset Beach are the North Island IRB Champions.
It was hot, hard racing at Waihi Beach that weekend with challenging surf conditions making it a spectators sport. Sunset Beach had excellent results. World Champions Taylor Shrimpton and Jemima Ferrier won five gold medals in Assembly, Mass, Single Rescue, Tube Rescue and Teams race. Our other Women’s teams backed up that performance with Samantha Coughlan and Abi Chapman with a silver x 2 and Bronze x 2. Robbie Shrimpton and Samantha-Jane Harding won silver x 2, gold x 1.
Lola Key and Hannah Simpson with patient Siobhain Oliver took four straight golds in the U20 Women’s Comp and a silver in the Open women’s team race. Shane and Mark Edwards won two gold in the Men’s Single and Tube Rescues, and two bronze while Hogan Shrimpton and Anton Baptist had a very consistent day with three Silver medals and a bronze. U22 men’s saw Judd Redman and Jhett Hunt win a silver and bronze. All teams contributed to a massive team score of 179 points with Mairangi Bay on 63.
Everyone exhausted from the heat with long days of racing. A big weekend of racing for 33 athletes in 53 races! President of Sunset Beach Lifeguard Service said “Another amazing effort by this dedicated team. You only reach the top of the mountain if the team is committed. Sunset once again showed True Grit.”
Teams will head to the South Island IRB Champs in March followed by the National Championships in April also in Dunedin, South Island.
