Waikanae in third place after first day of champs

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Waikanae sat in third place last night after the opening events in the Eastern Regional Surf Life Saving Championships at Mt Maunganui.

The beach sprint, relay and double events were completed yesterday, and Kaiaponi Farms Waikanae scored 21 points.

Mt Maunganui had 30 points in the bag heading into today’s first full day of competition, with Red Beach of Auckland next on 22.

Waikanae’s Briana Irving continued her dominance on the sand with gold medals in the under-19 and open women’s beach sprints.

Her clubmate Oska Smith won the u17 men’s beach sprint title, and the club’s u19 women’s team won gold in their division of the beach relay. They also won silver when they competed in the open women’s division of the beach relay.

Chloe and Jessie Kapene won bronze medals in the u15 and u17 beach sprints respectively.

Waikanae’s u17 beach relay team won bronze in the girls’ final, and the club’s open mixed double ski team picked up a bronze.

Dawson Building Midway and Riversun Wainui started today looking for their first points of the championships.