A busted toe and limited training couldn't stop Joe Wilson breaking through for his maiden ironman win at surf lifesaving's Eastern Regional championships.

The 20-year-old Mairangi Bay athlete outsprinted Mount Maunganui favourite Hamish Miller in a dramatic finish to the three-day carnival, dedicating his win to the memory of his grandparents and water polo teammate Rowan Brown, who died a year ago last week.

"I was stoked - it's pretty special to look back at the last year and to do it for those people in my life," says Wilson.

"I was a bit nervous because I've got a really buggered toe and I've been struggling to train with work over the past couple of seasons - I usually get to the beach when everyone's getting off the water and do most of my sessions by myself at 7pm at night."

Wilson works as a first aid officer on film sets. He suffered a toe injury at a carnival before Christmas and it hasn't come right.

But he had enough left in the tank to hold off the fast-finishing Miller, who collected a clutch of medals on his home beach, after powering away on the opening ski and swim legs.

East End's Claudia Kelly had to come from behind to win her first ironwoman title at this event, meanwhile, adding to a golden haul over the three days.

Defending champion Rachel Clarke led out the field in the opening ski leg but Otaki's Ella Kingi and a chasing bunch hauled her in over the middle swim leg, with Kelly chasing Kingi down in the board leg and winning the sprint up the beach.

Kelly has been training at the Mount over summer, learning the intricacies of the shorebreak and holes at low tide.

That knowledge and her undeniable talents helped her capture the women's surf race crown and the women's double ski with Hannah Baker, while also contributing to East End's wins in the surf teams race, the open women's taplin and the ski relay.

"I'm absolutely stoked - that was a really tough field and a lot of those girls have been working really hard the last couple of months, so I'm really happy," says Kelly.

"I'm definitely happy with how I am tracking and hope to get even better by nationals."

Miller won the board rescue with Mount teammate Danny Hart and added gold in both the board relay and surf teams relay but was pipped in a couple of sprint finishes, including in the board race final when Orewa's James Scott triumphed.

"Hamish is really quick on his feet so I had that in the back of my head," says Scott.

"I knew I had the height advantage which meant I was able to dismount my board earlier and start running in slightly deeper water. I took the risk and was just able to hold him off."

Waikanae's Georgie Pitkethley took out a highly competitive women's board race, finishing ahead of Rebecca Barron (Mt Maunganui) and Ava Smith (Wainui), easing home after getting off to a fast start and got a wave ahead of the competition.

"The girls weren't too far behind me so I still had to run up the beach pretty hard - I kept looking back to check that I definitely had the wave to myself and making sure I got every inch out of it as I could."

Mairangi Bay's Joe Wilson (right) outsprints Mount Maunganui's Hamish Miller to win the ironman title at the Eastern Regional championships in Mount Maunganui.

The men's surf race was taken out by Mount teenager Daniel Shanahan, holding off Piha's Jack Dufaur, with teammate Miller in third.

"You have to make a decision where the wave is breaking best, where it's the strongest, where you have the best chance of catching it and I guess I took a good line in," says Shanahan.

"I'm just looking forward to putting some good training in for nationals."

South Brighton's Zac Quickenden also held off a stacked field to win the men's ski race, with Quaid Thompson (Waikanae) storming home in second and veteran Travis Mitchell grabbing bronze.

"It's been a long trip coming up to the Mount from Christchurch and the heats and semis were a battle, with lots of good guys missing out - I'm just happy to come away with it here in the final."

Meanwhile, Piha's Dan Rippon and Whangamata's Maddie Kidd grabbed the open beach flags titles, with Rippon sliding past another veteran, Morgan Foster, in the men's final, while Kidd was too strong for Mairangi Bay's Alicia Wilson in the women's final.

Mount Maunganui won their 10th ERCs title in a row, finishing with 135 points, with Red Beach second on 91 and East End third on 70.