The third day of competition at the country’s largest junior lifesaving carnival on Mount Maunganui Beach has been a warm one with fine weather, followed by northwesterlies developing in the afternoon.

Oceans: Festival of Junior Lifesaving provides junior members of Surf Life Saving New Zealand - SLSNZ - with the opportunity to compete in a fun and safe beach and surf environment. 

Taking place from February 22 – 25, this year over 700 junior members from 44 Surf Life Saving clubs are taking part.

Saturday on Mount Main Beach started with beach flags “and thrills and spills and fast-paced action on the beach”, says Matt.

“Then they moved down to the water with board races and rescue events.”

The rescue events are designed to simulate rescuing a patient, something every aspiring surf lifeguard needs to learn.

While the festival doesn’t keep a points or medal tally, they do have a medal ceremony for each of the events.

“We encourage kids at this age group to enjoy giving things a go,” says Matt. “So we don’t keep a points tally.”

Categorised into U11 – under 11 years of age, U12, U13, and U14 age groups, the festival includes a range of events, including Sprint Race, Surf Race, Board Race, and Run-Swim-Run. However, it’s not just about competition.

Officials dress up wearing tutus and fancy dress and focus on the athletes having a good time.

Matt says the volunteer officials come from around the country and are not necessarily parents or grandparents of the athletes but often long-time volunteers at their surf lifesaving clubs.

“They love coming here. We are hosting 100 volunteers tonight at the Mount Surf Club to thank them for making the event a success.”

The 100 volunteers are made up of a water safety team out on the water, first aid and safety teams on the beach, and volunteer officials helping run the event. Included in this large group of volunteers is also the set up team who are from the Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service.

“We know it requires a lot of effort from surf life saving clubs to just be here, with some travelling from as far south as Dunedin," says Matt.

"Getting to the start line is a remarkable achievement, so we aim to ensure that every junior participant is celebrated, and they make the most out of this experience, whether it’s creating new connections with fellow members or developing news skills.”

As well as the 700 athletes, Matt says there are also twice that number of parents and supporters in town.

“It was a very packed Mount Main Beach today. Most start arriving from Tuesday or Wednesday and stay on to at least Sunday and Monday.”

He says the festival is “really good’ for the local hospitality scene.

“I know accommodation is full up. And last night Mount Main Street was heaving with surf lifesaving families visiting cafes and restaurants.  And many doing takeaways.”

On Sunday it’s back to Mount Main Beach for the final day of the four-day festival. Matt says he is looking forward to the “organised chaos” of one event in particular.

“We have a two-kilometre beach relay to start off the day at 8am, with four members in each team.”

He says there will be 120 teams doing that event, which means 480 athletes running around on the soft sand.

"It will be quite a spectacle. Organised chaos. They run the length of Mount Main Beach as a looped course. One athlete does 800m, the second one does 600m, the third does 400m and the final one does 200m."

Following this at 9.30am will be the ‘Grand Cameron’, again on Main Beach.

“This is six members in each team, comprising two runners, two swimmers and two board paddlers from mixed age groups.”

Matt says’ the day’s and festival’s action should be wrapped up from 1pm.

SLSNZ would like to thank the following event partners who make Oceans: Festival of Junior Lifesaving possible: Tauranga City Council, Tauranga Western Bay Community Event Fund, Race One, Sonic Surf Craft, Just Sheds, NES Hire, PTS Logistics, Brandt, and McLeod Cranes, Hiab and Transport Services.