Ōhope Beach is hosting the New Zealand surf lifesaving championships next week. Around 80 Gisborne clubbies will be among the 1400 competitors. Photo / Jamie Troughton – Dscribe Media Services
Ōhope Beach is hosting the New Zealand surf lifesaving championships next week. Around 80 Gisborne clubbies will be among the 1400 competitors. Photo / Jamie Troughton – Dscribe Media Services
Gisborne’s surf lifesaving fraternity have their eyes firmly fixed on the 2026 Aon New Zealand Surf Lifesaving Championships at Ōhope Beach in the Bay of Plenty next week.
The country’s best lifesaving athletes will gather there from Thursday to Sunday – the first time the carnival has been held atŌhope since 2016.
Competition starts with the masters age groups, then moves into the club titles.
National surf lifesaving champs organisers will be hoping for more moderate surf conditions than those that severely tested athletes at times last year in Gisborne. Photo / Jamie Troughton – Dscribe Media Services
“The championships promise high-intensity racing, skill and the unmistakable energy that comes when the country’s top surf athletes across all age groups go head-to-head,” SLSNZ said.
Nearly 1400 athletes from 46 clubs nationwide, including around 80 from Gisborne’s three clubs, will be competing.
Dawson Building Midway has 26 athletes in the club champs, Kaiaponi Farms Waikanae has seven in the club champs and eight in the masters, and Riversun Wainui has eight vying for club titles and 27 in the masters.
The champs have attracted big fields of athletes across the divisions for four days of ocean and beach action. Photo / Jamie Troughton – Dscribe Media Services
“For those in the surf lifesaving community, this is the showcase event,” Surf Life Saving NZ general manager of sport Zac Franich said.
“For those new to the sport, it is a front-row seat to one of the most demanding and dynamic codes in New Zealand.
“The championships represent the very best of what lifesaving sport has to offer.
“Everything from our experienced masters, up-and-coming juniors and our top open competitors all step up and show what they’ve got.”
Bigger craft like surf canoes (pictured) and surf boats add to the spectacle of the natonals. Photo / Gisborne Herald
“Surf lifesaving clubs from every part of the country come together and we see awesome camaraderie, as well as plenty of healthy competition.”
Aon New Zealand chief executive Melissa Cantell said the company was proud to support an event that celebrates “the talent and mahi athletes put into keeping Aotearoa’s patrolled beaches safe”.
Individual events across the four days are beach sprints, beach flags, 2km beach run, surf race, run-swim-run, board race, ski race, diamond and iron races.
Team events are beach relay, surf teams, board relay, ski relay, double ski, mixed double ski, three-person taplin relay, six-person taplin relay, tube rescue, board rescue, canoe races and relays and surf boat races and relays.
The Gisborne Herald will preview Gisborne’s prospects at the championships next week.
