Late call pays off for Bay teen in Australia

She left it late to enter, but Te Puke teenager Natalie Peat led from the front at the Australian surf-lifesaving championships on the Gold Coast yesterday.
The Papamoa 16-year-old reached the semifinals of both the under-16 diamond race and her specialist surf race, leading the diamond race until the last few moments when the tricky Kurrawa currents got the better of her and comfortably finishing fourth.
Peat only decided to cross the Tasman with coach Kurt Wilson after being picked as best female athlete of the recent New Zealand championships in Mount Maunganui.
"It was a pretty late decision - I only decided about eight days before I flew out that I was going to come over and give it a crack," Peat said. "I was talking to [New Zealand captain] Glenn Anderson and he was talking it up a lot and I wanted to get some experience in before next year when I'm in my last year of under-17s.
"I had a massive shock in my first couple of races - just how fast the whole pack is.
"There's 20 girls all fighting it out at the same level - it's just crazy how much talent there is, but it's already been a great experience."
Peat and sprinter Kodi Harman - who breezed through his under-17 beach sprint quarter-final yesterday - form the entirety of the boutique Papamoa contingent, while Mount Maunganui have a strong presence on the Gold Coast.
The Mount charge was led yesterday by Brooklyn Reardon, who made the final of the under-17 surf race, and 15-year-old Jess Miller, who progressed through her diamond race rounds and made the final of the under-15 surf race.
Andrew Roy made it through to the semifinals of both the single ski and double ski races, while his double partner Sam Shergold got things moving with a gutsy sixth in the under-19 2km beach run in the morning, claiming Mount's first points of the championships.
Former Tauranga surf lifesaver Mike Janes also featured in the gruelling beach run, claiming his second consecutive bronze in the open men's race, behind clubmate Andrew Grimshaw and winner Stephen Madden (Tugun), leaving him delighted.
"I buttoned off a bit to save myself for the ironman heats later on, but it still hurt," Janes said.
"It's really good to get a medal and it makes the weekend a bit easier ... because it takes the pressure off a bit."
Hawke's Bay's Daniel Moodie grabbed the first New Zealand gold at the championships, helping his star-studded Northcliffe club win the open men's surf teams race. Moodie joined Australian team members Shannon Eckstein and Dev Lahey and ironman star Pierce Leonard in the Northcliffe team who romped home in the final, while Moodie also made it through the quarter-finals of the individual surf race.
Ayla Dunlop-Barrett won her second medal - a bronze in the tube rescue - after collecting silver in the surf teams race on Tuesday.
Other New Zealanders to progress include Kevin Morrison and Dan Nelson, who are both into the semifinals of the men's ski race, while Paul Cracroft-Wilson was third in his quarter-final of the open men's beach sprint.