Second for Bay surf life savers

Competitors at the weekend’s New Zealand Surf Life Saving Representative Challenge. Supplied photos.

Less than ten points separated second-place getters Bay of Plenty from the top spot in the New Zealand Surf Life Saving Representative Challenge at Waimarama Beach in Hawke's Bay.

With a series of demanding races on land and in the water, the team finished behind winners Capital Coast (Wellington), while Taranaki rounded out the podium in third.

The winning team managed to take top points in most of the team events at the weekend event, although they had the added bonus of two Olympians, Marty McDowell and Kayla Imrie, and two Black Fins, Stephen Kent and Samantha Lee, competing as part of their team.

Meanwhile, the youth was equally close, with Taranaki this time taking the top honours with total points of 125. Only five points behind and in second place was the Bay of Plenty, while the Gisborne region team finished in third.

While rain threatened the event throughout the day, competitors enjoyed a largely dry day with only a few light showers and near flat surf conditions. Event officials say with the surf being less than half a metre, it was an even playing field on the water so a lot of positions were made up during the running sections.

Waimarama Beach in Hawkes Bay. Photo: Supplied.

Surf Life Saving New Zealand sport manager Mike Lord says it was another successful event.

'Our athletes played hard but fair out there. The close racing was a real highlight for us and we look forward to seeing more of these athletes compete at more of our upcoming events.

'We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the volunteers who made this event happen. They worked really hard out there all day to put on a safe and fun event for all of our athletes and their supporters.”

Many of the events mimic real life rescues for the qualified surf lifeguards competing, including the rescue-tube rescue which sees four competitors from each team participate: a 'victim,” one rescue tube swimmer, and two rescuers.

The victim swims approximately 120m to a designated buoy, signals, and waits to be rescued by the rescue tube swimmer. As they return to shore, the remaining two rescuers enter the water to assist and carry them to the finish line.

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