Such a privilege to be able to have our Papamoa surf life saving club volunteers acknowledged at tonight’s Trustpower Community Awards. To receive the 2018 BOP REGIONAL WINNER is such a fabulous way to acknowledge the service and spirit of our People, Club and Community.

A small Papamoa team of 7 made the trek up to Auckland over the weekend to compete in the Northern Region Pool Rescue Champs. The event was a great chance to get in some quality racing 3 weeks out from the Eastern Region Champs where we have 43 Papamoa athletes entered.

Talitha McEwan got the ball rolling on Saturday in her first pool rescue event with 1st place in the U12 Girls 50m Brick Carry as well as 3rd and 4th placings in her two other events! (see below)

The senior team, made up of Madi Kidd, Mel Hayden, Mayah Coleman, John Clark, Jenna Stephenson and Lewis Farr then followed on in sessions 2,3 and 4 with some great performances and a number of improvements to skills.

Thank you to SLS Northern Region for hosting us and running a great event! Below is a list of Papamoa individual to 3 placings from the event.

Madi Kidd - Open Women

1st 50m with Fins1st 100m Manikin Tow with Fins1st 100m Manikin Carry with Fins

John Clark - Under 19 Men

2nd 100m Manikin Tow with Fins2nd 50m Manikin Carry 2nd 100m Rescue Medley

Talitha McEwan - U12 Girls

1st 50m Brick Carry3rd 50m with Fins

Lewis Farr - Under 16 Men

2nd 100m Manikin Tow with Fins2nd 100m Manikin Carry with Fins

Papamoa members racing at the 2017 Australian Pool Rescue Championships under the Currumbin Vikings banner have excelled in both individual and team races over three days of racing at the SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre in Adelaide.

As well as a number of team medals, individual placings were:

Natalie Peat - Open Women

1st 100m Manikin Carry with Fins2nd 100m Manikin Tow with Fins2nd 50m with Fins3rd 200m Obstacle Race

Jake Hales - Open Men

1st 50m with Fins2nd 100m Manikin Carry with Fins3rd 100m Manikin Carry with Fins

Madi Kidd - Open Women

3rd 100m Manikin Tow with Fins3rd 50m with Fins

Jacob Loughnan

3rd 200m Obstacle Race

A team of 48 Papamoa Ocean Athletes Team have enjoyed a great 4 days of racing on main beach, Mount Maunganui for the NZ U14 Championships, known as Oceans 17

The "Pap Power" team did us proud with some hard racing and plenty of fun with a number of athletes receiving places and the majority achieving personal bests. The team culture was fantastic and our aspiring lifeguards learnt a lot about training hard over summer, improving their skills, working as part of a team, and enjoying the ocean. All these attributes will serve our U14 athletes well as they move up into the senior ranks as lifeguards next season.

The club would like to thank all the coaches who worked hard with the athletes all summer, the team managers for their tireless work in the hot sun, our awesome officials for giving up their time to help run a great event, the junior surf committee for all their support behind the scenes and Matt & Coral Jackson from CMT Excavations for so generously sponsoring our athletes singlets.

We finished a credible 9th in a heavily congested table with only 4 points separating 3rd to 9th! Our medal winners were as follows;

GOLD

Eden Kelly, James Kramer Pickering, Lucy Mano, Jack Hitchfield - U14 Beach Relay

Caitlin Harris - U14 Beach Flags

Talitha McEwan - U11 Run Swim Run

Talitha McEwan - U11 Diamond Race

Talitha McEwan - U11 Surf Race

Logan West - U11 Beach Sprint

SILVER

Logan West - U11 Beach Flags

BRONZE

Rico Kelly - U11 Beach Sprint

Lucy Mano - U14 Board Race

PAPAMOA TEAM

BAGGOTT, Gene

BEATTIE, Harrison

BECK, Lana

BELT, Kayleigh

BOLLEE, Mason

BURY, Charlie

CABUSAO, Azrael

CAMERON, Tom

CHOTE, Jack

DAVOREN, Liam

DAWSON, Hayley

DAY, Taiana

EDWARDS, Morgan

FARR, Claudia

FOURIE, Nicolai

GIBSON, Cooper

GREY, Kian

HARRIS, Brooke

HARRIS, Caitlin

HITCHFIELD, Jack

KELLY, Eden

KELLY, Emma

KELLY, Patterson

KELLY, Rico

KOCE, Ashlyn

KRAMER-PICKERING, James

LARSEN, Matt

MANO, Lucy

MCCARTHY, Conor

MCCARTHY, Erin

MCEWAN, Talitha

MCLAREN, Nicole

MCMANAWAY, Harry

MILLINGTON, Ethan

O'DONNELL, Saffron

PADFIELD, Alexander

PEDDLE, Bella

PEINA, Manaia

PILBROW, Ben

PILBROW, Emily

PORTER, Angus

SAUNDERS, Jacob

SCHARVI, Brayden

THOMPSON, Alex

WEST, Blake

WEST, Chanelle

WEST, Logan

WILSON, Isabella

It came down to two clubs fighting for top honours at Taranaki's Oakura Beach for the annual BP Surf Rescue North Island Championships.

Some of Surf Life Saving's top Inflatable Rescue Boat crews raced in great conditions on Saturday, with Port Waikato club Sunset Beach taking the win to retain the championship title.

Papamoa finished in a close second with locals East End finishing in third with some solid performances throughout the day.

The annual event drew in 144 entries (63 crews) from 12 different clubs including locals East End, Fitzroy, New Plymouth Old Boys and Opunake along with Eastern Region Clubs Papamoa and Waikanae, Central Region Clubs Waimarama and Westshore, Northern Region Clubs Sunset Beach and United North Piha and Southern Region clubs North Beach (Christchurch) and St Clair.

Five different events were contested including the Assembly Rescue, Mass Rescue, Tube Rescue, Single Rescue and Teams Race across the Under 21, Senior, Women's and Premier divisions.

Event manager Todd Velvin says the Sunset Beach women's crew of Taylor Shrimpton, Jemima Ferrier and Ethan Graham were the most consistent over the day with three wins from three races.

“They certainly made an impression, staking their claim as the top women's crew to beat heading into the national champs.

“Eyes were also on the experienced Edwards brothers (Sunset Beach) to try and stake their claim for the top Premier crew and they managed to take out the win in the Premier Men's Assembly Rescue ahead of East End's Scott Nelson and Scott Busing.”

Crews now have six weeks to build up to the 2017 BP Surf Rescue New Zealand Championships which will be held at Waipu Cove 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.”

Leading up to the national champs will be the South Island Championships at Warrington Beach on March 11.

For more information, visit www.surflifesaving.org.nz

Club points:

Sunset Beach- 87

Papamoa- 71

East End- 47

Waimarama- 30

New Plymouth Old Boys- 26

United North Piha- 19

St Clair- 18

Opunake- 14

Fitzroy- 8

Waikanae- 6

Westshore- 4

North Beach- 2

Results:

Assembly Rescue Premier Men's. Sunset Beach (Shane Edwards/Mark Edwards/Samantha-Jane Harding) 1, East End (Scott Nelson/Scott Busing/Sinead Malley) 2, Waimarama (Rhys Harman/Luke Harman/Bella Herbison) 3.

Women's. Sunset Beach (Taylor Shrimpton/Jemima Ferrier/Ethan Graham) 1, St. Clair (Briar Taylor/Maysha Ahrens/Brenna Ahrens) 2, Waimarama (Jaime Cox/Rachel Finlayson/Carolyne Nel) 3.

Senior Men's. Papamoa (Yannis Kokkosis/Mitchel Brady/Lewis Farr) 1, Sunset Beach (Jacob Pullen/Joshua Andrew/Caitlin Walker) 2, United North Piha (David Clarke/Dana Marais/Simone Hollier) 3.

U21 Men's. East End (Jerome McSweeney-Novak/Liam Cole/Flo Cunningham) 1, Sunset Beach (Judd Redmond/Jhett Hunt/Teagan Hansen) 2, Papamoa (Sam Johnston/Rhys Castle/Billy Bury) 3.

Mass Rescue Premier Men's. Papamoa (Kirby Wheeler/Chad Wheeler/Emily Pol/Nicola Elmsly/Lewis Farr) 1, Papamoa (Thomas Berthelsen/Liam Smith/Billy Bury/Hayley Elmsly/Jake Cowdrey) 2, East End (Scott Nelson/Scott Busing/Sinead Malley/Ella Rideout/Reef Robinson) 3.

Women's. Sunset Beach (Taylor Shrimpton/Jemima Ferrier/Ethan Graham/Jack Avery/Carla Janse Van Rensburg) 1, St. Clair (Briar Taylor/Maysha Ahrens/Brenna Ahrens/Matthew Bradley/James Coombes) 2, Waimarama (Jaime Cox/Rachel Finlayson/Carolyne Nel/Logan Sanko/Olivia Ward) 3.

Senior Men's. Papamoa (Yannis Kokkosis/Mitchel Brady/Lewis Farr/Kate Desbonnets/Billy Bury) 1, New Plymouth Old Boys (Rhys Clark/Michael Melody/Jordan Grylls/Bridget Billing/Casey Stevens) 2, Sunset Beach (Jacob Pullen/Joshua Andrew/Ethan Graham/Jack Avery/Caitlin Walker) 3.

U21 Mens. Papamoa (Jake Cowdrey/Cole Forbes/Lewis Farr/Kate Desbonnets/Emily Pol) 1, Sunset Beach (Judd Redmond/Jhett Hunt/Olis Fruh/Samantha-Jane Harding/Carla Janse Van Rensburg) 2, New Plymouth Old Boys (Michael Watts/Lachlan Stevens/Ella Hughes/Casey Stevens/Tessa Lilley) 3.

Tube Rescue Premier Men's. Sunset Beach (Lewis Powell/Hogan Shrimpton/Abigail Chapman) 1, Papamoa (Kirby Wheeler/Chad Wheeler/Kahleia Josephson) 2, Waimarama (Michael Harman/Ben Cross/Tom Charteris) 3.

Women's. Sunset Beach (Taylor Shrimpton/Jemima Ferrier/Shane Edwards) 1, St. Clair (Briar Taylor/Maysha Ahrens/Brenna Ahrens) 2, Papamoa (Hayley Elmsly/Nicola Elmsly/Yannis Kokkosis) 3.

Senior Men's. Sunset Beach (Jacob Pullen/Joshua Andrew/Samantha-Jane Harding) 1, New Plymouth Old Boys (Rhys Clark/Michael Melody/Jordan Grylls) 2, Fitzroy (Steven Rolfe/Poppy Campbell) 3.

U21 Men's. Papamoa (Jake Cowdrey/Sam Johnston/Lewis Farr) 1, Waikanae (Connor Mitchell/Oliver Shivnan/Holly Hope) 2, New Plymouth Old Boys (Michael Watts/Lachlan Stevens/Tessa Lilley) 3.

Open Teams Race East End (Scott Nelson/Scott Busing/Liam Cole/Sinead Malley/Jerome McSweeney-Novak) 1, Sunset Beach (Lewis Powell/Hogan Shrimpton/Mark Edwards/Ethan Graham/Shane Edwards) 2, Papamoa (Nicholas Coulter/Hamish Smith/Mitchel Brady/Kate Desbonnets/Yannis Kokkosis) 3.

- See more at: http://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/147223-papamoa-close-second-rescue-champs.html#sthash.nI4omqfG.dpuf

Another eight medals on the final day of Rescue 2016 contributed to an already successful campaign that has seen the New Zealand Black Fins crowned lifesaving world champions in The Netherlands overnight.

The team of 12, led by St Clair's Andrew McMillan, has created history once again as they're now the first Kiwi surf lifesaving team to win three consecutive world championship titles.

The Black Fins first prised the national team's title at the biannual Lifesaving World Championships from Australia in 2012 and once again in France in 2014