Kiwis off to great start at 2016 Sanyo Cup

New Zealand's surf lifesaving team has made a solid start on the first day of the 2016 Sanyo Bussan International Lifesaving Cup in Miyazaki Japan, taking 18 medals and sitting in the lead by 11points.

Waikanae's Casie Fyall was first to add to the tally, taking gold in the women's beach sprint with Mairangi Bay's Jake Hurley taking bronze for the men.

Casie also took a silver in the beach flags while St Clair's Carina Doyle claimed gold in the women's surf race with Matt Scott taking gold for the men.

Some of the other golden highlights came from Midway's Olivia Corrin in the women's board race with Papamoa's Danny Hart taking gold in the men's event with Captain Ben Cochrane (Omanu) taking bronze.

New Zealand sit in first place on the points tally after the first day with 406 points, followed by Australia (395) and South Africa in third with 332 points.

Team manager Steve Vaughan says it was a fantastic first day of competition and the athletes coped well with the 34 degree heat.

"The team entered the day relaxed, focussed, and ready to race; particularly those earning their first New Zealand cap. The results speak for themselves with many individual wins contributing to the overall result," he says.

Team coach Kevin Morrison says he couldn't be happier with the way the team performed today.

"They showed a lot of great character and fantastic team spirit. Tomorrow is a huge challenge; all the other countries will be gunning for us but we are under no illusions that we still have big mountains to climb," he says.

To keep up to date with the team's journey, visit the High Performance Facebook page at www.facebook.com/slsnzhp.

Results:

Women's beach sprints: Casie Fyall, 1st
Men's Beach sprints: Jake Hurley, 3rd
Beach Relay: women 1st
Beach Relay: men 2nd
Beach Flags: Casie Fyall, 2nd
Beach Flags: Jake Hurley, 5th
Women's Surf Race: Carina Doyle, 1st and Jess Miller, 5th
Men's Surf Race: Matt Scott 1st and Adam Simpson, 6th
Women's Board Race: Olivia Corrin, 1st and Jess Miller, 5th
Men's Board Race: Danny Hart, 1st and Ben Cochrane, 3rd
Women's Tube: 1st
Men's Tube: 2nd
Women's Board Rescue: 4th
Men's Board Rescue: 1st
Women's Ski: Jess Miller, 5th
Men's Ski: Ben Cochrane, 3rd
Ironwoman: Jess Miller, 1st
Ironman: Ben Cochrane, 3rd
Women's Taplin: 2nd
Men's Taplin: 1st

Points tally:

1st NEW ZEALAND 406pt
2nd AUSTRALIA 395pt
3rd South Africa 332pt
4th JAPAN 310pt
5th Great Britain 290pt
6th USA 251pt 
7th Youth JAPAN 247pt
8th CANADA 178pt
9th HONG KONG 122pt

2016 Sanyo Cup team:
Adam Simpson, Mt Maunganui
Ben Cochrane, Omanu
Carina Doyle, St Clair
Casie Fyall, Waikanae
Daniel Hart, Papamoa
Jake Hurley, Mairangi Bay
Jessica Miller, Mt Maunganui
Kelsi Boocock, Red Beach
Matthew Scott, Midway
Olivia Corrin, Midway

For more information, please contact:

Lisa Smith, Media & Communications Specialist, Surf Life Saving New Zealand
Phone 0276 488 823 or email lisa.smith@surflifesaving.org.nz