Surf lifesaving: Cox warms to task of week long slog in surf

I found it pretty tough coming into the international competition, living and training down in Wellington.Nikki CoxShe started slow but finished with Hawke's Bay's best result at the Lion Foundation Surf League - now all Nikki Cox wants to do is get back home.
The New Zealand ironwoman champion has just completed a gruelling schedule of racing, as part of the Festival of Surf Sports in Mount Maunganui.
She warmed up with the Northern Regional championships, went straight into the three-test International Challenge series and finished with the weekend's inter-provincial event, getting faster each time she raced.
Her highlight was on Saturday, when she beat home Australian Kristyl Smith - the current ironwoman world champion who was competing with an international Allstars team - in the feature ironwoman race, and was pipped yesterday by New South Wales' Tara Coleman.
"I thought I had it today but they caught a wave down on top of me and I just had nothing left in my legs after eight days of competing," Cox said yesterday.
"I was still pretty happy, but it's definitely been a pretty long week.
"I found it pretty tough coming into the international competition, living and training down in Wellington.
"I train with a good crew down there but I just haven't had any top-level racing this year, so the test series was the first big hit-out for me. It was quite daunting not knowing where I was sitting. It meant Monday was a slow start but I built up from there."
Taranaki swept to a third consecutive title at the two-day Surf League carnival, collecting 265.5 points, putting them more than 45 points clear of second-placed Hawke's Bay. Hawke's Bay produced a consistent performance, however, made more remarkable by the absence of New Zealand ironman champion Daniel Moodie, who injured his hand in training last week.
"That's the best finish I can remember at the Surf League, so it was a good team effort," Cox said.
"We didn't have any idea of the points until the end of the day so we just kept racing hard at each event, which was a good attitude to go in with."
New South Wales finished ahead of Bay of Plenty on the overall table with 210 points, while the hosts collected 203 over the weekend.
Taranaki won nine of the 19 events on the final day alone, leaving New Zealand team veteran Glenn Anderson with an imposing streak.
He's now been in teams that have won the last five titles - including 2007 with Gisborne and 2008 with Bay of Plenty - but has no doubt where this one stands.
"This was easily the best team performance I've been involved in - it's a good feeling being surrounded by such great athletes," Anderson said. "This was different for me - I felt I was playing more of a supporting role this time whereas in the past, I'd be trying to lead the way in the surf race and ironman."
Taranaki's stars included sprinter Paul Cracroft-Wilson, who won the beach flags both days, and swimmer Dylan Dunlop-Barrett, who was imperious in the surf race and tube rescue with another star swimmer, Charlotte Webby. World champion IRB driver Andrew Cronin led a clean-sweep in the motorised craft races, while Taranaki emphasised their dominance by winning the event-ending Dearlove relay.