Canadian competitor back to race

Exactly a year ago, Roman Soroka cast a morose figure on Mount Maunganui's Main Beach, watching his Canadian surf lifesaving teammates compete at the Eastern regional championships.

The Halifax lifeguard broke his leg minutes after arriving at the Mount, running into a hole as he took his first dip while preparing for the International Surf Challenge.

Instead of staying despondent, however, the 20-year-old was inspired by watching a week of surf superstars strut their stuff.

After his leg healed, he headed back to New Zealand in October and joined the Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service.

This weekend will see the biology student come full circle, when he lines up on his adopted home beach for the ERCs.

(Story continues below)

"It will be cool to race in what I was supposed to last year - I kind of missed out," Soroka said. "I took it pretty well at the time and I wasn't super bummed-out about it but it was hard to walk across the beach and my crutches kept on sinking in the sand.

"I really wanted to come back here and race though and it was a good time to take a break from university and have a go at making the Canadian world championship team."

Soroka approached Mount coach John Bryant last year.

While he won't seriously challenge for titles this weekend, he should be a certain bet to qualify for November's world championships in Adelaide.

"I was telling the guys back home it's like six years of practice in Canada condensed into a couple of months here, which is really neat.

"I can't wait to go back and see the results - this has been a huge boost to me."

There's a strong international flavour in the Mount club this year, with Japanese, Slovenian and Dutch guards all patrolling, while French athletes Adrien Lambolez and Emmanuelle Bescheron will also be competing for the club this weekend.

Swim specialist Bescheron is coming off some solid preparation, having won last weekend's Round the Mount swim in 51m 2s, while Lambolez is a strong board paddler and sprinter. The championship is one of the biggest events on the surf lifesaving calendar, with nearly 1000 athletes competing.

After four decades at the Mount, the regional event is heading to Whangamata next season, and local clubs want to give it an appropriate farewell.

Last year, Mount Maunganui headed off near-neighbours Papamoa by just a single point to claim back the overall club title and that rivalry is set to continue over the two days of racing.