Over Anzac weekend, Onslow College’s Una Nieuwoudt, Eloise Meijer, Kaine Goonan and Sam Harford made their way to Orewa beach, Auckland to compete in the New Zealand Beach Sprint National Championships.

Despite our flight being cancelled the day of, we managed to get there in time for all of our races thanks to Eloise’s parents for driving almost 10 hours to get us there.

As a crew, we were all nervous going into the first day of heats, knowing that most people there had competed in beach sprints numerous times and some even gone to skill development camps.

We had only been to Titahi Bay beach sprints (which is very different to all the other ones). Yet we persevered and ended up making quarter finals in most of our races, which is a great result meaning that we had already beat half the contestants in those events.

We had some pretty great results for being new to beach sprints. Eloise and Una were the 4th fastest U18 girls double; Una and Devin Armstrong from Whangarei RC were the 3rd fastest U18 mixed double and – the biggest result of all – Kaine and Sam took first place in the U18 Boys double to match their North Island medals.

Overall, this was a rewarding and worthwhile experience. We all had a great time over the weekend, running and rowing through the waves on a beautiful beach with great weather, and some great results (and bucket hats from the wins at Titahi Bay).

Una, Eloise, Kaine and Sam.

Article added: Wednesday 06 May 2026