Aucklanders had a dominant role in the 4km Bridge to Basin paddleboard race in the Whangarei Town Basin at the weekend.
They came north in force for the race, which started at the Canopy Bridge and went to a marker south of the new Te Matau a Pohe bridge before returning to the start.
Karl Roberts, from the The Paddleboard Shop, said locals practised on the course every Tuesday, but the Aucklanders had paddled "like machines".
The publisher of the Standing Room Only paddleboard magazine, Phillip Russell, of Auckland, beat Alan Johnston, of Whangarei, in the surfboard division.
Lauren Johnson, of Whangarei, won the surfboard women's division with Alan Johnston's wife Annie runner-up.