Surf life saving: Lewis goes back-to-back

Ben Lewis won a second consecutive national under-19 beach sprint title in Gisborne yesterday. Photo/supplied

Long-serving Ocean Beach Kiwi beach sprint coach Greg Larsen has seen some phenomenal feats from his athletes over the years but he reckons yesterday's will take some beating.

Four gold medals were won by his teenagers at the national surf life saving championships at Midway Beach in Gisborne and the highlight for Larsen was watching 18-year-old Ben Lewis capture a second consecutive under-19 boys title. Lewis tied for gold with Papamoa's New Zealand representative Aidan Smith.

"Considering Ben was out of action for a large chunk of last year with a broken collarbone he collected while playing for the Napier Boys' High School 1st XV rugby side it was a fantastic performance," Larsen said.

Lewis and Reece Akuhata won a second consecutive national under-19 relay title when they combined with Kyle Cornelissen and Grayson Hesketh to capture gold.

Hesketh was a late replacement for the team after Wesley Akeripa withdrew with a broken ankle he received when working on an apple orchard.

"We promoted Grayson from our under-16 team and for a new boy he really stepped up," Larsen said.

Akuhata won the under-16 beach sprint title which one of his clubmates, Josh Lee, won last year. Akuhata then combined with Hesketh, Adam Bibby and Zethan Bennett to win the under-16 beach relay title.

"Zethan has a background in gymnastics. Like Grayson he is in his first year of beach sprinting so this title was an outstanding effort," Larsen said.

"For Reece to win three golds was awesome. I reckon he's got a good chance in the under-16 beach flags tomorrow [today] so if he could finish the weekend with four golds that would be amazing," Larsen added.

Ocean Beach Kiwi collected 17 points on the sand yesterday to move into fourth place on the overall standings behind Mount Maunganui, Gisborne's Waikanae and Auckland's Mairangi Bay. Papamoa completes the top five.

TSB New Zealand Surf Life Saving Championships event manager Scott Bicknell said it was a full on day of action at the beach but everything went as planned.

"It has been another great day here in Gisborne and we're really happy with how everything has gone today. The weather has been perfect again and the locals have been fantastic. We've enjoyed seeing a lot of Gisborne locals coming to see the action and the new changes to the waterfront which I know the lifeguards have enjoyed too."