A record 603 competitors will hit the water at the 2016 Surf Life Saving New Zealand Pool Championships up in Auckland this weekend.

Kicking off on Friday, around 400 races will be contested over the three-day event which is being held at the Sir Owen G. Glenn National Aquatic Centre at AUT Millennium on the North Shore.

The 2016 Surf Life Saving New Zealand Pool Championships take place at the Sir Owen G. Glenn National Aquatic Centre at AUT Millennium in Auckland this weekend. Photo: SLSNZ

The 14th annual championships will be the first national event of the 2016/17 surf lifesaving season and also the single largest pool event in New Zealand.

The events help competitors, ranging in age from 10 all the way up to Masters, train for surf-based rescues in a more controlled environment, says SLSNZ sport manager Mike Lord.

'The New Zealand Pool Championships is unique for surf lifesavers, while the events are all based around rescue capability and are specific to saving lives, it's in quite a different setting than the surf they are typically used to.

'Picking up a manikin that weighs around 60kgs is comparable to rescuing a person, while swimming under obstacles and picking up bricks from the pool floor is like ducking under waves and testing someone's ability to search underwater. These are all key skills that surf lifesavers need on the job.”

The Eastern Region, which is one of four SLSNZ regions and stretches from the Coromandel south to Gisborne, has the second largest number of entries this year with 197 athletes from eight clubs.

Females dominate the overall entry numbers with 321 taking part with the largest group being in the Under 16 age group followed by U12 and U13. While of the 282 men entered, the large majority are entered in the U19 and U16 age groups.

Points will be allocated for each individual and team race across the U11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 19 and Open age groups, which are then added together to determine the top club who'll walk away with the Paul Kent Memorial Trophy.

While the Top Masters Club Trophy will be presented to the top club with culmination of points in the Masters age groups.

Racing starts 9am on Friday with the 50m swim with fins and continues with a full day of racing on Saturday, before finishing up at about 3pm on Sunday.