Midway leading Gisborne charge for medals at nationals in the Mount

There will be plenty of action and hopefully a stack of medals for the 40-plus Gisborne lifeguards in action at the Mount. Racing begins this morning at the SLSNZ Nationals. Waikanae’s Oska Smith (pictured) will be among the favourites for glory in the beach events. Picture by Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Media

Hopes are high among the Gisborne clubs for medal success at the New Zealand surf lifesaving championships and the Midway club look set to be a serious contender for the top three places on overall points.

The championships start this morning for the Masters in which Riversun Wainui and Kaiaponi Farms Waikanae will have athletes in action.

The club championships begin after the Masters racing finishes today, with more than a thousand lifeguards competing, including 28 from Dawson Building Midway, eight from Waikanae and two from Wainui.

Midway’s head coach Jack Gavin said his squad were looking forward to a big four days of racing at the Mount.

“Surf conditions are looking relatively flat with a small bump predicted to hit on Saturday,” Gavin said.

“The squad has enjoyed their taper training phase and look sharp and ready to race.

“As always we will be strong in the under-19 men’s division with Angus Blair, Tyron Evans, and Jack Lepper,” Gavin said.

“Those three boys will be looking to feature in almost every event.

“Our u17 females Ella Sutton, Jaqs Kennedy and Emily Petro will likewise be looking to hit the podium across a range of events.

“As well, Sophie Petro and Alice Sparks have featured all season in the u19 female age group, so they will look to cement their dominance.”

Gavin said the likes of Yahni Brown, Finn Cameron, Harry Hayward and Maxwell Kennedy will be a force to be reckoned with in the u17 male team events.

“We also have a canoe team for the first time in a while, which is great to see.

“A big thanks to Andrew Gaddum super coach for getting William Mathews, Jack Searle, Max Gaddum and Austin Fergus in the canoe and training hard in the lead up to the championships.”

“Our youngest u15 athletes Max Gaddum, Riley Knight, Brooke Mathews and Jess McIntyre are excited to attend their first nationals and will likely feature in the u15 age group.

“We are also very lucky to have some key leaders back in our squad for the weekend.” he said.

“Olivia Corrin, Cory Taylor and Alex Bermingham will all be in our open age group this weekend.

“It’s always exciting for our younger athletes to have these guys back in the squad and we will look to lean on them for some guidance and motivation beachside.

“Cory and Olivia should be pushing for podium spots on individual races and Alex should feature in the women’s ski (event).

“Outside of the results, the club is just looking forward to getting away for the weekend together as a group and having some fun with our mates,” Gavin said.

Waikanae’s manager Clara Wilson said their small team were also excited to get their toes on the line.

“First to race will be Emily Gillies and Adam Tate in the Masters division today.

“Emily has entered all races in her age bracket and is amped for it.

“Adam is racing in the ski race before teaming up with his daughter, Christy, later in the day in the open mixed double ski race,” Wilson said.

“Beach athletes Oska Smith, Seven Mapu and Briana Irving are in excellent form thanks to consistent mahi under coach Arna Majstrovic.

“Bri and Seven will contest the open division and Oska will battle it out in the u19 before joining them in the opens.

“Max Phillips has a full race card, fronting up for all water races in the u17 division and pairing with head coach Max Neustroski in the open board rescue,” she said.

Neustroski will aim to win back his 2km beach run title on the first day.

“Christy Tate, Sam Ferkins and Kendra Tate have a laser focus on their ski races, all in the open division.

“Christy had good success in January, winning at Eastern Regional Championships and will be hoping for the same at the nationals.

“Sam and Kendra are teaming up and will join Adam and Christy in Thursdays open mixed double ski, before Christy and Kendra take on the open women’s double ski.

“We were sad to lose Georgie Beaufoy and Claire Hopper from the team due to injury, but both girls are still very young and with plenty of years ahead of them. Next year they’ll definitely be amongst it!”

Wainui will be back at the New Zealand champs for the first time after a couple of years away.

“We have two young fellows racing. Nikau Rudge, who is a great swimmer and has trained a lot of years in the Enterprise Cars Swim Team, is loving having a real go at the surf swimming racing and learning board paddling.

“It will be great to see how he goes.

“The other is Mako Fukushima-Hall.

“Mako has been really strong in the junior surf ranks over the last few years.

“He is an incredible board paddler, particularly in big surf, and has started swimming four times a week over the last few months. He will be really fit and will have a serious crack at the board and ironman events.

“It’s very exciting and the boys will pair up to race the u17 board rescue event.”

Wainui will have Belinda Slement racing in the Masters board and swim events today. The club’s tried and tested Masters men’s canoe team will race; Salve Zame, Matt Logan, Jason Low, and Andrew Reid.

“They will have lots of fun.”

• The Herald will carry results as they come to hand tomorrow morning and on Saturday, with a full wrap on Tuesday.