Mount Maunganui surf lifesaver Katrina Madill has tasted immediate success at her first big international carnival.
The 19-year-old grabbed gold in the board race at the Sanyo Bussan Lifesaving Challenge in Japan over the weekend, heading home top Australian ironwoman Bonnie Hancock.
She also picked up silver medals in the women's taplin
and beach relay and helped the New Zealand development team to second overall behind Australia.
Madill's success came as no surprise to Mount coach John Bryant. "The girls that she's beat over there are world-class board paddlers who have featured at the Aussie titles so that's an outstanding result. She's been going so fast - this could start setting her up for bigger things and could give her a foot in the door for the International Surf Challenge at the Mount in January."
Christchurch sprinter Chanel Hickman led for the New Zealand team, winning the beach sprint at the Nanki Shirihama venue and backing up later in the day with a win in the beach flags.
Dylan Dunlop-Barrett (New Plymouth), Wainui's Toby Harris and Midway pair Mike Janes and Cory Taylor then teamed up to capture a fourth win in the mens tube rescue.
Co-coach Carl Newman said the New Zealand team faced huge hurdles but they competed superbly.
"It got up to 40C here today and was bloody hot," Newman said. "It was a really tough environment for our athletes with the heat but each of the team members really fronted up. Other teams had 12 athletes competing so to achieve these results with only an eight-strong team was remarkable."
As well as the gold haul, New Zealand picked up seven silver medals and four bronze, finishing on 384 points, 19 behind Australia.
Madison Boon finished second in the ironwoman race, ahead of her attempts to qualify for the lucrative Kellogg's Ironman series in Australia later this month, while Tauranga's Janes was second in the board race and in the ironman.
The NZ surf lifesaving team is heading to the World Lifesaving Championships in Alexandria, Egypt, next month, while the development athletes will have the chance to trial for the International Surf Rescue Challenge in Mount Maunganui in January.
