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An Owen Chapman Cup surf carnival underway at Red Beach. The start of a men’s board race at an Owen Chapman Cup carnival. Photos, Ross Malyon
Promising surf lifesaving competitors will get their chance to shine at the 63rd Owen Chapman Cup surf carnival in early January.
The event, which takes place on Saturday, January 5, is hosted by Red Beach Surf Club and is the longest running club day in Australasia for surf lifesavers and attracts top tier competition from around the country. Close to 300 competitors are expected to attend.
But in a twist this year, 18 top lifeguards from the Northern Region will be in Australia for the Trans-Tasman Tri Series.
Red Beach and Orewa Surf Clubs will each be without four of their top competitors, Piha has two in the team and Mairangi Bay has a total of eight athletes travelling to Australia.
This leaves the door wide open for the next tier of competitors who will be keen to step up to the plate. An added incentive is that there will be prizes for all winners on the day.
The Owen Chapman carnival did not take place last year. Poor water quality forced the cancellation of the event and compounding the problem was a king tide close to midday which left no beach for the running of events. It was the first time that the event has ever been cancelled. Two years ago, Red Beach took out the overall points trophy.
The carnival will also provide opportunities for competitors to assess their chances of success at the three-day Eastern Regional Championships at Gisborne’s Midway Beach during Auckland Anniversary Weekend.
Competition on the day starts at 9am. First up in the craft arena are surf ski races for both men and women, followed by ski relays. The afternoon programme will see the Ironman and Diamond events as well as the Taplin relays.
The surf boat and surf canoe arena has a 10am start. Young canoe paddlers who fall into the under-16 category will, for the first time at the Owen Chapman event, have their own U16 division to compete in to keep them separate from the U19s.
The beach events of sprints, relays and beach flags will wrap up the day’s competition around 3pm.
