Warrington set to host 2016 BP Surf Rescue South Island Champs

St Kilda and St Clair will be two of the clubs to watch at this weekend's BP Surf Rescue South Island Championships.

Close to 100 athletes are set to race at Dunedin's Warrington Bach on Saturday in one of the most exciting IRB events of the season.

Surf Life Saving New Zealand Sport Manager Mike Lord says the two local clubs will most likely go head-to-head to take out the top club points.

But Canterbury club Sumner will also be one to watch out for, he says.

"Their crew of George Thomas and Steven Parrat were the top premier crew at last year's national IRB champs and they will be looking to hone their skills ahead of the 2016 BP Surf Rescue Championships next month in order to retain that title," he says.

The BP Surf Rescue North Island Champs were held at Waipu Cove last month and saw Sunset Beach take out the top club spot.

This weekend's BP Surf Rescue South Island Champs is the next step in the pathway towards the BP Surf Rescue New Zealand Championships, aka the national champs, which will be held at Papamoa from April 2-3.

Locals St Clair and St Kilda Surf Life Saving Clubs have the largest number of athletes entered this weekend with 25 and 24 respectively, followed by Spencer Park with 10.

Other participating clubs include Sumner (9), Waikuku Beach (6), Warrington (6), Brighton (6), North Beach (5) and Palmerston North (5).

Racing begins at 9am on Saturday with competition in single rescue, assembly rescue, tube rescue, mass rescue and teams divisions.

Click here for more information about the event.

Social media:

Help us share some of the great moments from the BP Surf Rescue Series via our social media hub.

You can now share your photos and videos by visiting https://community.surflifesaving.org.nz/members/register. Simply register then start uploading.

You can also share you photos and video through Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #BPSurfRescueChamps to have them automatically appear on our story board.

Alternatively, you can email them to BPSurfRescueChamps@sendpix.org.

For more information, please contact:

Lisa Smith, Media & Communications Specialist, SLSNZ
Phone 09 303 9335 or 0276 488 823
Email lisa.smith@surflifesaving.org.nz