Surf Life Saving Nationals 2013

Day 1- Right from the start we knew it would be a long day of competition. Running from arena to arena and back to back racing all day put me in the finals for u19 and open board, u19 ski and u19 and open iron woman. Our first final was the highlight of the day winning the Open Woman’s Ski relay!!!

Day 2- Was very different for me. I started off with a sleep in while the beach flags were on. Later that day I went on to place 2^nd in the open woman’s board rescue final. But we still claim that we were the first NZ team across the line.

Day 3- Finals day!! I started off by taking out the win in the u19 ski final!! This was super exciting and I was super stoked to win by a whole wave ahead. Something new for all the girls in the race was a drag start due to the shore dump. I think this suited me as I was confident in the start. Next up was the open double ski where I raced with Travis Mitchell. We had a shocking heat and a bit of carnage on the way in, we qualified last place for the final. In the final we had a flying start and led the whole way around the course. Unlucky as we were piped on the line by Ocean Beach Kiwi. Awesome to see two Mairangi Bay crews on the podium!! Next we were into the u19 board final. Here it was a race right to the line and I won in the run up the beach. After finishing u19’s I walked over to the start of the open woman’s board race and placed 3^rd in a close finish with 2^nd. Unfortunately my legs were too buggered to sprint up to the finish.

Into the u19 iron woman where I was very unlucky in the ski leg and ended up coming off relatively near the back, cruised the swim and placed 7^th after catching a great wave to the finish. A couple minutes rest and straight back into the open iron woman where I placed 5^th. Although it was a great race I just didn’t get the results I hoped for. Finally we had a 30minute break where I was able to relax, take in some food and fluids thanks to Balance Nutrition and Subway.  Last race of the day was the Open Woman’s Taplin final. With board as the first leg I took off and had a flyer paddle and smashing out the transition to tag first. Rachael had a wicked paddle but was unfortunately caught by an Omanu competitor who came down a wave behind. Maddie took off into the swim only 20m back but ended up smoking the swim and catching some mean body waves which put us back into first place!! Our Mairangi Bay Taplin team are now unbeaten for 12 months!!!

To top off 2013 Surf Life Saving Nationals I was named in the NZ Open championships squad for 2013-2104.

Thanks Sonic Surf Craft for supplying some awesome gear for me to race on over this summer!!!