North Island crews were rewarded for a long journey to the South Island IRB championships in Dunedin over the weekend.
The fourth round of the surf rescue series was held at Warrington Beach, with nearly 130 drivers, crews and patients braving the chilly conditions.
The Waimarama pairing from Hawkes Bay of Mike Harman and Ben Cross, along with patient Leila Cross, dominated the premier division, clean-sweeping the tube rescue, single rescue, assembly rescue and mass rescue events, before winning the open teams race.
Their closest challengers were local crews from St Kilda (Nicholas Harwood, Justin Reid and patient Kate Robertson) and Brighton (Simon Roberts, Scott Weatherall and patient Rachel Craythorne), who shared the minor placings in all four divisions.
The under-21 division was a similar story, with Mt Maunganui twins Kirby and Chad Wheeler winning three out of four, together with patient Sam Roy.
Only the North Beach crew of Hayden Andrews, Matthew Aplin and Georgina Jackson managed to break their streak in the assembly rescue.
The women's division was all Otago, however, with St Clair sisters Carla and Stephanie Laughton winning the tube rescue, single rescue and mass rescue titles, and neighbours Julia Clement and Anna Tangata, of St Kilda, grabbing the assembly rescue crown.
Sumner dominated the senior division with two strong crews, consisting of Luke Keats and Derek Shanks in one boat and Steven Parrat and George Thomas in the other.
The Christchurch club completed a decent day out with second place in the open teams race.
The event was a valuable warm-up for the national championships at the end of the month, which are also being hosted at Warrington Beach.
