The Dunedin powerhouse has added another trophy to its bulging cabinet, with its talented juniors claiming the southern region title at Warrington Beach last weekend.
St Clair, celebrating its centennial year, recently won the Otago championships for a 25th straight year.
It claimed the southern junior title, which has traditionally been dominated by Canterbury clubs, for the first time.
St Clair (116 points) pipped powerful Waimairi (113) for the honours, delighting St Clair junior co-ordinator and coach Richard Murray.
"This has been eight years in the making, creeping up the ladder with the last two years finishing second and finally winning this year," Murray said.
"We are no longer the bridesmaid."
The event featured 288 young athletes from 13 clubs, and was held in testing 1.5m surf and strong winds.
The competition is contested by junior athletes - lifeguards in waiting - from under-11 to under-16 age divisions. The qualified lifeguards are represented in the under-16 division.
Waimairi held a healthy 16-point lead after the first day of competition, with St Clair second and fellow Dunedin club Brighton a point back in third. St Clair took the lead halfway through the second day and did not look back.
One of the leading St Clair competitors was Jesse Schneiders, in her first year in the under-16 grade. She cleaned up the field, winning the board race, board rescue, surf race, run-swim-run and the diamond race (swim and board).
Schneiders was also part of the winning St Clair mixed beach relay team, and was a clear winner in the beach sprint.
The St Clair under-16 men proved too strong in the craft and iron man events, taking all three places in the ski race and the first two places in the three-man board relay race.
Honours were shared evenly in the under-14 divisions with St Clair, Warrington and Brighton all featuring among the titles.
Sumner (82) pipped Brighton (67) for third place. Of the other Dunedin clubs, Warrington (35) was seventh and St Kilda (4) was 11th.
