Surf lifesaving: Western Bay dominate NZ team

TOP CLASS: Jessica Miller was named captain of the New Zealand team at next month's Sanyo Cup in Japan. PHOTO: Supplied

Mount Maunganui's Jessica Miller will captain the New Zealand team at next month's Sanyo Cup in Japan.

The 21-year-old, who is now based on the Gold Coast, has a good understanding of the event, having represented New Zealand at last year's Sanyo Cup where she took gold in the Ironwoman and bronze in the women's ski. She also raced in Japan at the 2013 International Surf Rescue Challenge.

The Sanyo Cup is an annual beach competition hosted by the Japan Lifesaving Association and this year it will be held at the Momochihama Seaside Park in Fukuoka from June 24-25.

This year, Jessica will be racing alongside her brother Hamish, who has his own experience leading a New Zealand side. He captained the Junior Black Fins at the 2016 Lifesaving World Championships in the Netherlands.

Alongside Jessica and Hamish Miller in the team of 10 (five male and five female) is their second cousin Casie Fyall (Waikanae), who also represented New Zealand at last year's Sanyo Cup, 2016 Junior Black Fins Libby Bradley (Mount Maunganui) and Javon McCallum (Fitzroy) plus Bayden Botha (Mairangi Bay) who was part of the New Zealand Youth team for the 2015 International Surf Rescue Challenge.

Ben Johnston (Papamoa), who has just been called up to the team, also has Sanyo Cup experience under his belt, having represented New Zealand at the 2015 event.

The team also includes some newcomers to the high-performance programme - Claudia Kelly (East End), Samalulu Clifton (Mairangi Bay) and Atakura Julian (Lyall Bay), who is also a new addition to the team.

Coach Danny Morrison said he and team manager Steve Vaughan could not be happier to have Jess lead this year's team.

"Jess stood out as someone who has really taken control of her own destiny in the sport and is very driven to make the step up to the next level of international competition.

"Being her third trip to Japan, and having completely dominated the Ironwoman in the 2016 event, the selectors and management team are very confident that she can provide some real value to the team on and off the beach. She has a great surf head on her shoulders and has shown a level of maturity that will help her make the most of this role."

Jessica said she was honoured to be selected as captain and to have the opportunity to lead and race with a talented bunch of athletes on an international stage.

As she had raced twice before in Japan, she was looking forward to sharing her knowledge about racing conditions and the culture with her teammates.

"That will be awesome to share with the newbies. Last year the racing was tough and it was awesome to see the Japanese really putting their foot in the door."

The two days of racing will include events such as surf race, board race, oceanman/woman, beach flags, beach Sprint, board rescue, tube rescue, oceanwoman relay and beach relay.

New Zealand will join teams from Australia, United States, Great Britain, Netherlands, South Africa, Hong Kong and Japan.