Around the Clubs

Regional weekday patrols finish at Mount Maunganui, Omanu and Papamoa this week, although voluntary patrols will still be out in force on weekends.

Papamoa's Ben Johnston, right, sprints past Omanu's Ben Cochrane to win the under-16 ironman title at the ERCs. Photo by Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Journalism.

The weather patterns are changing slightly, with bigger surf on the horizon as low-pressure systems swing down from the tropics. That means it is more important than ever to swim between the flags on weekends and take extra care at the beach outside patrolling times.

Last weekend's Eastern Regional championships at the Mount also signalled the start of a busy time for athletes: The Lion Foundation Surf League begins next Thursday at the Main Beach, with the Oceans under-14 national champs a fortnight later.

Mount Maunganui

Mount coach John Bryant gave his troops a day off training on Monday after they cleaned up the Eastern Regional championships, picking up 136 points during the two days, with Papamoa second on 79.

It's the second year in a row the Mount team has won, after piping Papamoa by a single point in 2011. Leading the charge were Jess Miller, Katie Wilson and Emily Campbell in the under 16s, big wave specialist Cara Ryan won the under-19 ironwoman despite the lake-like conditions and under-19s Cameron Witney and Sam Shergold both performed heroic feats racing up in the open division.

The calm conditions meant things were pretty quiet on the beach, with only a handful of first-aid treatments needed.

This weekend, a team of 35 heads to Whakatane for the Eastern Regional junior champs. Our Sunday junior surf programme is still taking members to join us at the Main Beach from 9.30am.

Omanu

Our voluntary weekend patrols have been well attended by members and Omanu has been audited twice this season, with both patrols receiving a 100 per cent pass rate. We're hoping to see more people at the beach, especially during the holiday weekend and with the water finally warming up.

Omanu sent a small team of 15 athletes to the ERCs, as well as two surf boat crews. The under-19 girls taplin team of Ashley Cochrane Siobhan Wright and Dannielle O'Connor provided one of the highlights by winning gold, while Ben Cochrane performed well in all his individual races, narrowly pipped for victory in the under-16 ironman.

Omanu has a new open girl's surf boat crew competing this year and they made their competition debut at the ERCs, where they performed outstandingly. Well done to Jo Lambert, Margaret Irwin, Sharleen Irwin, Leah Scown and sweep Ron Dobbs.

We're sending another big junior team away to the junior ERCs in Whakatane this weekend, while our club handicap race series – organised by Koenraad Groot – continues on Friday night.
The series has been well supported by members and we would encourage any spectators to come down and watch the action from the clubhouse. Racing starts at 5.30pm.

Papamoa

Papamoa's strong team finished second at the ERCs and had a number of superb individual performances. Coach Kurt Wilson was particularly impressed by Kodi Harman's under-19 and open beach sprint double and his efforts in taking out the under-19 beach flags.

Kodi then combined with Hamish Smith, Jordan Hills and Danny Kayes to clean up the under-19 beach relay, then stunned national champions Mairangi Bay by winning the open relay.

Natalie Peat knocked out a superb swim in the open ironwoman, flying up into third spot. At 17, this was another fantastic effort from the talented teenager.

Hamish Smith showed his versatility, combining with Matthew Strange and Michael Bryant to win the under-19 board relay, while Ben Johnston was in dazzling form, winning six titles including a brilliant under-16 ironman crown after a sprint up the beach.