Omanu finished with 28 gold medals across the under-15, under-17, under-19, open and mixed divisions, alongside 17 silver medals and 16 bronze medals.
Fellow Bay of Plenty club Pāpāmoa - chock full of under-17 and -19 talent - also excelled by breaking into the top 10.
The title wraps up a remarkable 12 months for the Omanu club in which they also claimed the Eastern Regional Senior and Junior Championship titles for the first time as well as a strong showing in the National Oceans Championship for U11-14 athletes earlier this year.
“It’s an incredibly good feeling – we have worked so hard towards delivering on this goal for the last two years in particular, and to see it all come together means so much to all our local community who have really got in behind us and our vision for the club,” head coach Cory Hutchings said.
“What makes it special is having seen the lift in all our athletes right across the board in all age groups,” he said.
“While it’s good to recognise those that end up on the podium, there is a whole squad out there who collectively train incredibly hard, push one another, but most importantly, have built such a strong culture where everyone is supporting one another and wants the club to do well.”
Southerly winds and heavy swells disrupted the first two days of the championships, with only a handful of finals able to be run. But organisers and event crews staged an astonishing display as the sun came out on Saturday, condensing a huge chunk of the programme into 10 hectic hours on Midway Beach.
One of the highlights of the weekend was undoubtedly Max Beattie, who claimed a famous victory in the blue-ribbon Open Men’s Ironman to win his fifth title in his 20th year since first representing Omanu as a U14 athlete.
The victory, his first since 2016, was made even more memorable by beating out Fitzroy’s superstar ironman Joe Collins, one of the world’s leading elite surf athletes. The 32-year-old veteran, who is based on the Gold Coast, celebrated his way up the beach for an emotional win.
Another Omanu athlete, Gus Shivnan, was third, with Midway’s Cory Taylor – another five-time winner – finishing fourth.
In contrast, East End’s Claudia Kelly broke through for her first national ironwoman title, holding off New Zealand’s greatest female surf athlete and Omanu coach and competitor, Danielle Richards, thanks to an incredible swim leg.
She pulled clear of Richards with sublime bodysurfing skills, then turned the final board leg into a procession. Ellie McCloy from Mount Maunganui was third.
Omanu also created another slice of history by winning the open men’s six-man taplin relay for the first time.
“We’re absolutely blown away by what our athletes achieved and we’re incredibly proud of how they pulled together and represented our club,” Omanu chairman Reuben Hansen said.
“We’ve worked hard to lift our standards across all areas of our volunteer organisation, in both lifeguarding and competition, and we’re delighted that we can show our tight-knit community just what that work can look like.”
