LIFESAVING: World record first for club

SHANE HURNDELL
THEY were only drinking coffee this morning but Westshore Surf Lifesaving Club stalwarts Brian Quirk and Fred Swain were toasting their first world recordholder in Callum Joll.
One of three Hawke's Bay Today-sponsored champions from the club, Joll, joined former Midway ironman champion Glenn Anderson (pictured right), Mairangi Bay's Michael Buck and Wellington's Steven Kent in the Kiwi men's 4 x 50m obstacle relay team which set a world record mark of 1min 40.90sec at the German Cup pool championships in Warendorf on Saturday.
"Mike Lee [Joll's Napier Aquahawks swimming coach] has to take all the credit as far as his coaching is concerned," Swain said.
But both he and Quirk agreed Joll's worth ethics have always been strong.
Like the men's relay team, the women swept their highly-rated European and Aussie counterparts aside.
"Considering the pool stuff is the Europeans' speciality this is huge for New Zealand. When you take in to account there were a lot of young guns in the female contingent, in the Kiwi squad it bodes well for our future," Quirk said.
Later this week he will travel to Sydney to watch Hawke's Bay Today's other champions from the Westshore club, world ski race champion Nikki Cox and national ironman champion Dan Moodie, compete for New Zealand at the International Surf Challenge in Bondi.
Despite the dominance of the Kiwi relay teams, the Kiwis finishing on top of the medal table with six gold, five silver and three bronze medals and Wellington's Natasha Hind being named top female lifesaver at the German Cup the Kiwis missed out on an overall podium finish. A botched line throw proved costly.
The women's team failed to complete the line throw within the 45 second time limit - only 14 of the 27 teams finished. It cast a shadow over an otherwise outstanding meet, with another five New Zealand records recorded by the eight-strong team on the final day.
"We're obviously pretty disappointed that one event could cost us a chance of winning the overall competition," coach Scott Bartlett said. "But that aside there were a number of outstanding performances from our team and it gives us a massive base to work from planning towards next year's world championships."
Georgina Toomey picked up a fourth in the 100m manikin carry, and Steven Kent recorded a new national record of 53.07sec in the men's event.
Kent finished fifth, the best of the New Zealanders, as South African winner Armand Marais set a new world record of 49.49sec.
Team skipper Glenn Anderson set a new national record in the 100m rescue medley - 1min 05.58sec - to put him second behind Italian Federico Pinotti.