Kaiaponi Farms Waikanae finished in fifth place, on 60 points. They finished second to Mount Maunganui when the carnival was held in Gisborne last summer.
Waikanae head coach Cory Hutchings said he thought his club did amazingly well, given they had only a small team of 20 over there.
The clubs ahead of them on the points table had much bigger teams.
“So I think we did really well,” Hutchings said.
“Briana Irving was outstanding for us. She proved her pedigree again with golds in the under-19 and open women's sprint and u19 flags.
“Oska Smith was another standout for us, with wins in the u16 beach sprint and u16 flags.”
The club had Australia-based Kiwi teenager Summer Rolston competing for them. She won the u16 surf race and was second in the u16 diamond.
“Summer lives on the Sunshine Coast and is neighbours with former Waikanae club member Paul Green,” Hutchings said.
“She really enjoyed coming into our club environment, and will compete for us at the New Zealand championships here in mid-March.”
Hutchings said the carnival was a satisfying hit-out for the club before the nationals.
“We are hoping we can bolster our competitor numbers before that event.
“When we have our full arsenal our aim is always to be a top-three club, and that remains our aim for the nationals.”
Waikanae won 12 gold, five silver and six bronze medals and Wainui eight gold, two silver and four bronze medals.
Wainui's Williams said he was “stoked” with the performance of the Wainui team.
“As a collective they all fronted up, which I'm really proud of.
“They were great on and off the water. The team spirit was really high, and I feel that was reflected in the results.”
Williams said it was hard to point to anyone in particular but he felt Ava Smith's paddles in the u19 and minutes later in the open women's board race were spectacular.
“She led all the way and would have won both gold medals but for a bit of misfortune from mother nature,” he said.
“Sarah Lockwood's gold in the 2K beach run was her first-ever medal and she was just overjoyed. We were all stunned to see the performance she put on.”
He said all the club's relay and board rescue competitors put in high-class performances, and he pointed to the performances by the club's u19 canoe teams.
Wainui Nui Canoey, the top team, won both the long- and short-course titles.
“They are such a young crew and they are already paddling at such a high level. The other, even younger team (all aged 14), Wainui Nui Nation, are improving all the time and thoroughly deserved their bronze.”
It was a disappointing weekend for Dawson Building Midway, with only a silver medal to show for it, and 21st place overall, on just three points.
Midway were without their stars in Cory Taylor, Olivia Corrin, Chris Dawson and Matt Scott and had only 14 competitors in all.
“There is no getting around it, it is disappointing,” Midway head coach Matt Sutton said.
“But the good news is we are still waiting for our rebuild stage to kick in properly and I am confident it will.
“We are going to have a good run for a long time when the younger athletes we have coming through reach the senior ranks.
“And for the nationals here in March we will see a stronger performance from Midway.
“The aim is to do better next time.”
Detailed results will be in The Herald tomorrow.
