Ask Hawke's Bay surf lifesaver Hamish Pyne how his school holidays went and you'll get a miserable response.
"I had glandular fever for five weeks so I couldn't do much," he said.
Fortunately for his Westshore club, Pyne, 14, recovered in time for the start of the new school year and for
the past three weeks had been able to train once a week in the build-up to the Waimarama-hosted Surf Lifesaving Hawke's Bay championships at the weekend.
"In that respect, it was pretty good timing," said Pyne as he reflected on his success.
The Napier Boys' High School Year 10 student won the under-16 beach flags title and combined with clubmate Ryan Ennor and Ryan Jennings to win the under-16 board relay.
"We didn't go too good in the under-16 ski relay.
"I also competed in the under-16 beach relay where we got fifth, the under-19 beach relay where we were second to last and the open men's beach relay where we were last.
"You know what these champs are about ... getting as many points as we can for our club," said Pyne.
The third year surf lifesaver who was competing in his second Hawke's Bay champs certainly did that as his club dominated the champs yet again.
Waimarama were second and Ocean Beach Kiwi third.
"This is my No 1 sport. I'm in it for the long haul. Hopefully I'll be able to compete at Surf League level some time in the future," said Pyne.
Carnival organiser David Beattie said Pyne was part of the Westshore club's 10-strong development squad coached by Adam Moffitt which performed admirably for Westshore.
"Obviously Nikki dominated her respective events again," said Beattie referring to Westshore's world champion Nikki Cox.
"But that development squad played a huge part in Westshore clearing out on the second day after things were pretty even after the first," Beattie said.
