Australia dominates first surf lifesaving test

A green and gold tide swept across the sands of Mount Maunganui today in the opening test of the International Surf Challenge in Mount Maunganui yesterday.

The Australian surf lifesaving team made a powerful statement in the first of three tests, finishing on 112 points, with New Zealand a distant second on 94 points.  Japan (53), Canada (43) and Great Britain rounded out the five-nation competiton.

The true reflection of Australia’s dominance was in the fact they won 21 of the 26 events on a blustery day in sloppy half-metre surf.

New Zealand’s only wins came in both beach relay events, two of the three surf boat races and Chanel Hickman in the women’s beach flags.

Otherwise, it was all Australia, cleaning up in every water event with ironman stars Shannon Eckstein, Hugh Dougherty, Kristyl Smith and Liz Pluimers prominent.

Smith wasn’t surprised at the performance, adamant this was one of the greatest Australian teams of all time.

“I was in the team that toured here in 2003 and the team just seems to get stronger and stronger every year,” Smith said.  “We’ve got specialists everywhere and it gives our ironmen and ironwomen a chance to have a rest, whereas the Kiwis have to use their key athletes for most events.”

New Zealand’s bleak day started when five-time national ironman champion Daniel Moodie was ruled out with injury.  Glenn Anderson was called back into the fray for the opening ironman race, where Eckstein and Dougherty were only beaten by rising Australian development star Kendrick Louis.

Pluimers was similarly dominant in the ironwoman, heading home Courtney Hancock and her younger sister Bonnie.

Pluimers said the hardest part of the day was dealing with the frequent squalls that buffeted competitors.

“It was really tough – a big gust came through when I went around the first ski can and it was all I could do to stay on,” Pluimers said.

New Zealand’s champion Titahi Bay boat crew provided the highlight for the home side, winning two of their three races against Australian representatives Whale Bay.

But elsewhere, the home team’s tactic of fielding four beach sprinters in the 12-strong team backfired when Australia claimed both sprint wins and under-21 competitor Ben Mispelhorn beat Kiwi captain Paul Cracroft-Wilson in the men’s flags.

Cracroft-Wilson wasn’t despondent, however, and vowed his team would fight back in Wednesday’s second test.

“There were a few nerves out there from the new caps but now we’ve got that out of the way, we’ll improve and look to come stronger on Wednesday,” Cracroft-Wilson said.  “We want to come out and prove that we can match them and beat them. We weren’t out-classed today – we just had a bit of bad luck and it was probably just a few technical lapses that stopped us competing better.”