Sunset Beach Lifeguards Defended their title for Top Club. Tough day out... with 87 points for Sunset and 71 points for Papamoa, Sunset Beach retained their North Island BP Surf Rescue Champions Title. The annual event drew in 144 entries in the form of 63 crews from 12 different clubs around the country, including locals East End, Fitzroy, New Plymouth Old Boys and Opunake. In flat conditions but some tough starting positions, Sunset earned 6 gold medals, 4 silver medals, 1 bronze medal. These were spread across U21 Men, Women, Open Men’s and Premier grades.
Taylor Shrimpton and crewman Jemima Ferrier won all their races, 3 Gold medals and were most consistent of the 11 women’s crews competing on the day.
Brothers Shane and Mark Edwards with patient Samantha-Jane Harding earned Gold in the final of the Premier men’s Assembly Rescue final taking on the elite of IRB racing. Lewis Powell and Shane Edwards then combined to win Gold in the Tube Rescue for the Premier Men’s final after Mark Edwards was injured.
Senior Men’s team won gold in the Senior Men’s Tube Rescue (Jacob Pullen, Joshua Andrews and S J Harding) and with two Silver Medals were a real threat to some seasoned racers in their events.
In the U21 Men’s we had two teams competing. Judd Redmond, Jhett Hunt, (Patients: Olis Fruh, SJ Harding, Carla Janse Van Resburg) won Silver in the Mass rescue. Both teams have promise for the NZ Champs early April.
“It’s really great, we are feeling really good because it was touch and go for a while, with Papamoa right on our tails, so that kept us honest and working hard”, Shane Edwards.
Hard day at the office with Single Resues finals being cancelled for the day due to low tide. Crews now have six weeks to build up to the 2017 BP Surf Rescue New Zealand Championships which are set to be held at Waipu Cove in Northland from April 1-2.
"We're sure to see these, and other crews from around the country, battle it out to become New Zealand's top IRB club," Event Manager, Todd Velvin
