The inaugural National Surf Life Saving Patrol Championships were held at Oriental Bay in Wellington on Saturday and the small but strong club from Tairua took out the bronze medal in what was a very tight and hotly contested competition.
 
After winning the Bay of Plenty district champs back in early March, Tairua travelled to Wellington representing the Bay of Plenty district for the national event.
 
The Patrol Championships event is quite unique and very different to traditional Surf Life Saving competitions. The Patrol Championships is a team event comprises six members in each team who are required to complete a Run Swim Run, Rescue Relay, IRB Relay, Lifesaving Scenario, First Aid Scenario, Theory Exam, and a Lifesaving Relay. Each event has a different weighting of points with the Lifesaving and First Aid Scenarios being the most important. This means the whole team of six needs to not only be extremely fit and fast in the water, but also very experienced and able to think and react quickly when it comes to the scenarios. The event is focused on what Surf Life Saving’s core business is – saving lives at NZ beaches.
 
The Tairua Surf Life Saving Club beat all the other teams in the Rescue Relay and Theory Exam, while also placing very well in the scenarios to gain the bronze spot. Sumner from Canterbury took out the silver and Muriwai from Auckland won the gold.
This is a fantastic result for Tairua who are a small club on the Coromandel Peninsula with a only 25 volunteer lifeguards. They were by far the smallest club at the championships.

The Tairua team was: Sean Ridler (Captain), James Starnes, Alisha King, Emily Stephens, Spencer Raymond, and Greg Bowen.