Waikanae won more than 20 titles, and also picked up many second and third placings. Midway scored close to 10 titles with plenty of top placings, and Wainui won three titles with several silver and bronze medals.
Testing 1.5-metre to two-metre swells on Sunday delivered an exciting, action-packed spectacle for the large crowd.
Among the best of many outstanding displays by Gisborne athletes was the performance of Midway’s Olivia Corrin in the under-19 women’s ironman.
Corrin led early in the swim, only for competitors to catch a wave behind to level it up when they went to the board leg.
She struck out early on the board, powered through the surf and led by a wave when she transitioned to the final ski leg.
She mastered the waves again on the paddle out, returned to the beach clear by two waves, and ran under the finish line archway to record an emphatic victory.
“I can’t describe the feeling,” she said.
“It’s always special when you win on your home beach.”
In another big finish, Waikanae’s Lachie Falloon trailed Wainui’s Jack Keepa after the swim and board legs of the u16 ironman but Falloon made the better of the heavy surf and shot into the lead to win by a good margin.
“After I jumped off my ski I ran hard to the finish line,” Falloon said.
“I was just really happy at that moment to have won it.”
Keepa finished fourth, having earlier won the u16 surf race and board race to give Wainui two of their standout results.
Also outstanding were the efforts of Waikanae speedsters Jamie Gedye, Briana Irving and Seven Mapu.
Gedye won the open women’s beach sprint and beach flags, and Irving won the u19 and u16 women’s flags and sprints.
“This is a really good competition, and it felt great to win across both age groups,” Irving said.
Mapu won the u16 men’s flags and sprint. His focused effort in a gruelling flags final brought its reward.
“The flags was really intense and I’m pretty stoked right now,” he said afterwards.
The great surf conditions produced some top canoe racing and the Waikanae u19 crew reigned supreme.
“Their double gold wins in the short and long course were outstanding,” coach Brent Mitchell said.
“I’m very happy with the way those young guys are going.”
Waikanae head coach Cory Hutchings said he felt that overall it was the club’s best result at either an ERC or national level in recent years, certainly while he had been with the club.
“I put it down to the culture change, with the kids wanting to compete and doing all the little things that elite competitors should do,” he said.
“Our under-19 girls and under-16 boys were just phenomenal, along with our beach athletes.”
Midway head coach Matt Sutton said he was really pleased with the way his club performed.
“At our team meeting on Sunday I said it had been the best year of coaching in my time in the role at Midway, and the results showed that,” Sutton said.
“That was our best performance at the ERCs for a long time.
“Our squad did really well together. More than anything, I was proud of the way they all stepped up to race in their team events.”
He said the best thing about the result was that the club still had a lot of improvement to come.
“Overall, I think Gisborne put on a better ERC event than we’ve been getting at the Mount.”
Wainui head coach Dion Williams said he was “absolutely stoked” with his club’s performance.
“We had a lot of people who filled in with our relay teams on Saturday and they did really well.
“Then on Sunday when the waves got up we shone with Ava Smith’s win in the under-16 board and Jack Keepa’s wins in the board and surf race. Jack still has another year in that age group.”
Surf Life Saving New Zealand eastern regional sport manager Mark Inglis said the feedback from athletes about the shift from Mount Maunganui to Gisborne for the carnival had been extremely positive.
“The venue, the conditions, the programme and the focus on the experience for the athletes worked,” he said.
“Our thanks to Eastland Community Trust, Matt Cairns and his team, because it would not have been as successful without that support.”
