Kiwi lifesavers chasing early Christmas cash

A handful of New Zealand’s best surf lifesavers will be hoping Christmas comes early at the first round of finals of the rich Ocean Assault series in Queensland this weekend.

Taranaki duo Paul Cracroft-Wilson (Fitzroy) and Ben Willis (New Plymouth Old Boys) will join South Brighton’s Morgan Foster in their pursuit of the men’s flags events, while former national 400m champion Callum Taylor and Gisborne’s Daniel Harris will line up in the sprints.

Mount Maunganui teenager Chelsea Maples has qualified in the beach sprint and women’s board race, while Orewa’s Tenealle Hatton has shown outstanding form on the ski this season.

National ironman champion Daniel Moodie has also qualified in the surf race, after finishing second to world ironman champion Shannon Eckstein in qualifying two weeks ago.

The lucrative series is offering competitors A$1000 ($1270) for each race this weekend, with further prizes of $500 for second and $250 for third.

There will be two rounds this weekend, with the top-10 in each race then qualifying for the grand final, also at Southport Beach early in January, where the prizemoney will leap to A$2500 for first, $1250 for second and $750 for third.

Willis won the sprint finale last season and wants to add the flags this time, although he’s expecting some hot form from his fellow Kiwis.

“I’ve been taking a break from beach sprinting to work on my overall speed – I’ve had some consistent 10.90s times over 100m on the track recently – and it’s going to be pretty helpful in trying to nail the beach flags,” Willis said. “Paul will definitely be my main competition this weekend, although I’m expecting some of the big Aussie clubs to gang up and try to get me out early.”

Cracroft-Wilson was second in the flags final last season, behind Australian world champion Simon Harris, and hopes to make amends over the finals series this time around.

“I’ve only been back running for about four weeks and have been fairly rusty with my turns but I'm starting to get them back on track now,” Cracroft-Wilson said. “Ben will be the one to watch although some of the younger generation coming through will be particularly tough especially Ben Mispelhorn (Kurrawa) and Tom Reiken (Bribie Island).”

Kurrawa-based Moodie, meanwhile, wants to continue his recent good form.

“I was pretty stoked to get a good result heading into the finals – now I’m just hoping I can get my own water to swim in and avoid all the whitewater at the start and around the cans,” Moodie said.

More than 900 surf athletes have competed throughout the series, with more than A$200,000 ($242,000) in cash and prizes on offer.

Caption: Kiwi surf lifesavers Paul Cracroft-Wilson (left) and Ben Willis will go head to head in the first round of finals of the rich Ocean Assault series in Queensland this weekend.