Surf sport athletes from around the country battled it out for top honours in the Mount Maunganui waves at today's inaugural Representative Challenge events.

The pinnacle event for Surf Life Saving New Zealand is the bi-annual World Lifesaving Championships and the representative event format has been developed to create a step in the pathway towards achieving national representative honours.

Bay of Plenty's Youth team member Madi Kidd (blue cap) got through to the finals in the beach flag race. Photos: Chris Callinan.

The 2016 events are the Representative Challenge and the Surf Boat Challenge. Both are based around a comprehensive competition programme conducted over one day of high level racing today.

For the Representative Challenge, athletes are representing Otago, Canterbury, Wellington, Taranaki, Hawkes Bay, Gisborne, Bay of Plenty and the Northern Region. An Open and Youth team has been selected for each region, consisting of six males and six females.

Events include surf race, ski relay, beach flags, board race, tube rescue, beach relay and beach sprints.

As it stands, the Northern Region has won the New Zealand Representative Surf Boat Challenge, finishing with 84 points, Eastern Region second on 78 points, and Central Region third on 68 points.

The results so far (from SLSNZ):

Youth Female Surf Race - Gisborne (1st Emma Godwin, Gis)

Youth Male Surf Race - Northern Region (1st Charlie Haynes, Cant)

Open Female Surf Race - Gisborne (1st Jessica Miller, BOP)

Open Male Surf Race - Bay of Plenty (1st Max Beattie, BOP)

Youth Mixed Ski Relay - Bay of Plenty

Open Mixed Ski Relay - Northern Region

Youth Female Beach Flags - Northern Region & Taranaki

Jessica Miller from Bay of Plenty.

BOP's Youth team member Tim Waller led from start to finish in men's leg of the mixed pair ski race and gave a handy lead to Julie Orgeval (below).

BOP Youth team member Julie Orgeval won her leg of the race to make it a Bay of Plenty win.

Northern Region's Open team member Teneale Hatton in the ski race.

Bay of Plenty's Madi Kidd (blue cap) in the beach flag race.