Paddleboarding: Late surge as NZ team collect two medals

GOING SOLO: Mount Maunganui's Ashley Cochrane was forced to go it alone on her way to fourth place in the 18km women's paddleboard long distance race.PHOTOS/INTERNATIONAL SURFING ASSOCIATION

The New Zealand team finished 10th at the 2014 International Surfing Association (ISA) Stand Up Paddle and Paddleboard Championship in Nicaragua after the team secured two further medals on the final day of competition.

Andrew Newton (Mnt) gained the team's second runner-up placing in the prone paddleboard short course discipline (5km), while Ashley Cochrane (Mnt) gained her second copper medal of the event in the women's short course (5km).

The two medals brought the team's tally to four medals after Sam Shergold (Mnt) finished runner-up in the long course prone paddle race and Ashley Cochrane (Mnt) finished fourth in the long course.

Newton was involved in a classic clash involving two Australian paddlers. Just 24 seconds separated the three paddlers, with Newton gaining second place 16s behind Toby Burrows with a time of 30:18 minutes.

In the Men's Paddleboard Long Distance Race (18km), the athletes took off in a sprint from the start. The leading pack included Rhys Burrows (AUS), Sam Shergold (NZL), Rory Chapman (AUS), and David Buil Sanz (SPA). It was the Aussie and Kiwi who sprinted to the line with Shergold finishing second in a time of 1:55:17, 5s behind the Australian.

"To have a sprint finish after 18km paddling is hard but I'm stoked to finish second after such an epic race and proud to do the job for the Kiwi team," Shergold told Dscribe Media.

"It was a very tactical race in extremely hot conditions, with little breeze to cool down in the flat areas around the islands, but we managed to use what little downwind there was to break away. It was a fantastic experience to race at this level and I've learned a lot from it."

Ashley Cochrane battled out a gruelling long distance race where her opponents used their Stand Up Paddleboard teammates as pacers, leaving Cochrane to paddle the entire course solo.

Cochrane finished in a time of 2:17:19 - 18m behind winner Jordan Mercer (Aus). In the short course race, Cochrane finished just under 3m off Mercer's time in 34:42.

The nine-day event included surfers and paddlers from 28 nations competing in nine surfing and racing divisions.

ISA World Stand Up Paddle and Paddleboard Championship

Overall Team Rankings: 1st Australia, 2nd US, 3rd Brazil, 4th Spain, 5th France, 6th Mexico, 7th South Africa, 8th Peru, 9th Venezuela, 10th New Zealand.

Men's Stand Up Paddleboard Surfing: 1st Poenaiki Raioha (Tah), 2nd Jackson Close (Aus), 3rd Antonine Delpero (Fra).

Men's Prone Long Distance Race (18km): 1st Rhys Burrows (Aus), 2nd Sam Shergold (Mnt, NZL), 3rd Rory Chapman (Aus).

Men's Prone Short Course (5km): 1st Rhys Burrows (Aus), 2nd Andrew Newton (Mnt, NZL), 3rd Rory Chapman (Aus).

Women's Prone Long Distance (18km): 1st Jordan Mercer (Aus), 2nd Carter Craves (USA), 3rd Itziar Abascal Rivero (Spa), 4th Ashley Cochrane (Mnt, NZL).

Women's Prone Short Course (5km): 1st Jordan Mercer (Aus), 2nd Carter Craves (USA), 3rd Itziar Abascal Rivero (Spa), 4th Ashley Cochrane (Mnt, NZL).