Kiwi surf lifesavers' Anzac Cove tribute

The ten rowers from Auckland's Red Beach Surf Life Saving Club who will travel down the Dardanelles strait, and around the Gallipoli Peninsula. Photo / supplied

New Zealand surf lifesavers will next week pay their own special Gallipoli tribute by rowing ashore near to Anzac Cove where New Zealand troops under machine-gun fire landed a century ago.

Ten rowers from Auckland's Red Beach Surf Life Saving Club will join more than 40 surf boat crews from Australia, Britain, France and Turkey, as well as other Kiwi crews from Muriwai, Piha, and Whangamata, in the Gallipoli 100 (G100) event.

On their 60km journey over April 21-22, they will travel down the Dardanelles strait, and around the Gallipoli Peninsula.

They will row past the historic Anzac Cove before landing at a beach near where the centenary commemorations of the Anzac landings will happen on April 25.

The Red Beach crew of five men and five women will carry a commemorative ribbon, printed with the names of individuals and families who want to honour those who served at Gallipoli.

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Donations from the ribbon have gone towards the purchase of a new surf boat for the club.

"It will be a proud moment for our rowers who view it as a poignant way to carry the Anzac spirit with them all the way to the beach landing," said team manager Ross Malyon.

The boat being used for the marathon row, organised by Military History Tours Australia, will later be gifted to a European surf club, possibly a Turkish one.

Several of the members have family connections to Gallipoli.

Club captain Zita Talaic-Burgess also won a place at the Dawn Service through the ballot and will be joined by Mr Malyon as thanks for his long-standing service to the club.

Ms Talaic-Burgess's great-grandfather Thomas Christian Mikkelsen, a Bay of Plenty sawmiller, was a member of the New Zealand Field Artillery during World War I.

He was sent to Gallipoli but since he was in charge of the artillery's Clydesdale horses, which did not go ashore, watched the battles rage from the deck of a transport ship.

Mr Malyon said it will be a special moment for all the crew when they row ashore.

"It's one of those once-in-a-lifetime things and we all feel very privileged to be a part of it."