• Emily Glackin
  • Charlie Twose and Zoe Crawford.

Surf Lifesaving Club's National Success

Between Thursday 7th March and Sunday 10th March 2019 the New Zealand Junior Surf Lifesaving Championships was held at Mount Maunganui in the Bay of Plenty.

More than 850 competitors from 48 clubs from around New Zealand took part in various events based on land, water and a combination of the two.

The competitors competed in four ages groups: under 11, under 12, under 13 and under 14.

North Shore’s Mairangi Bay sent a strong team of 52 competitors to the testing conditions at Mount Maunganui and competed extremely well, placing third in the country overall. Mairangi bay beating old rivals, Red Beach, by three points. The competition was dominated by local club Omanu with Mount Maunganui in second place.

Third place is the best result Mairangi Bay has achieved in the junior national championships in a considerable amount of time. The club placed fifth equal in last year’s weather-interrupted event at Orewa Beach. 

Mairangi Bay head coach, Rod Salt, said: “I am extremely proud of these amazing young athletes. They have developed so much over the past few months and for them to come third in the country is a testament to their hard work and the support from a great team of volunteers. In addition, they handled the conditions extremely well considering we generally are a flat water East Coast beach. Every athlete played their part in the team’s success and every single one of them developed a great deal and more importantly had a great event - setting up a strong base for next season.”

Team manager, Tony Sands, says: “I want to thank the coaches, parents, managers and young athletes for the huge commitment towards these results and the development in the support for the club.”


Issue 97 April 2019