Orewa Athletes Star for Northern Region at U16 Inter Districts Champs
The Northern Region Team is the 2009 U16 Inter Districts Champions after a dominant display at Mount Maunganui last weekend. Orewa’s 6 representatives in the 10 person team led the way over the 2 day competition.
Team Captain Thomas Clarke proved his all around versatility performing strongly in the Ironman Teams with club mate Luke Siddons taking second each day, winning the Ski Teams event both days with club mate Jack Wilson and also winning the mixed board relay after teaming with Mairangi Bay’s Danielle McKenzie.
Aimee Sisson again highlighted her potential to be a national ironwoman champion in the not too distant future. She performed strongly in the Diamond Lady Teams, the Woman’s Surf Teams and along with Luke Siddons, was part of the successful Mixed Rescue Relay Team.
Andrew Saunders has been the form flags and sprint competitor at Northern Region carnivals this year and continued his good form at the Inter Districts. His run legs in the Lifesaver Relay were outstanding.
Julie Sweetman showed the composure of a seasoned professional as she dominated the field in Women’s Ski both days. She was so impressive on day 1 that team management put their power play on her for day 2’s competition. Julie didn’t disappoint as she smashed the women’s ski field by a bigger margin than she did on day 1, earning the maximum double points for the team. Julie also teamed with club mate Jack Wilson taking second place in the Mixed Ski Teams both days.
Northern held a narrow 4 point lead over the home team, the ever strong Bay of Plenty after day 1. Both teams lifted the bar on day 2, but it was Northern who held their nerve and extend their lead to 6 points by the end of day 2, with Wellington a further 11.5 points behind in third.
Final Points;
Northern Region 166, Bay of Plenty 160, Wellington 148.5, Taranaki 121, Hawke's Bay 111, Otago 63.
Also see the write up on SLSNZ’s website;
http://www.slsnz.org.nz/Article.aspx?id=8335&Mode=1

Northern Regionals Results – Orewa 4th overall
After several years of big surf for this event we were greeted with flat conditions at The Mount which meant largely drag racing conditions for last weekend’s Northern Regionals.  At least the Gear Steward was smiling!!
Most of the county’s top competitors were in attendance and the standard of competition was probably only just below that that we will encounter at the Nationals in 6 weeks.  This gave our team a good indicator of where they stand in the lead up to the Nationals.
Everyone gave their events their best effort and there were some excellent results.  A number of the team were competing at their first major senior event and they all did very well stepping up into “the big time”.  It was very pleasing to see a number of “newbies” making finals even though they did not place.  A great indicator for next season.
A big thanks to the big group of parents, supporters and helpers who travelled down.  You guys certainly add to the atmosphere both on and off the beach.
Again Orewa showed that they have the best team spirit and it was great to see the support the team gave each other and as usual, our winners get the biggest cheer by miles at the Prizegiving.
Outside the competition, the Fear Factor and Scavenger Hunt events provided some light relief.  Thanks to Becky, Amie and Kelly for organising these.
Overall we placed 4th which is our best overall result ever (previous best was 5th) and a fantastic result.  Congratulation to the whole team and their coaches.
Here is a list of our place getters:
3rd Place

 2nd Place

   1st Place                

Orewa wins overall points at Interclub Carnival
Sunday 14th December saw the second Interclub Carnival of the season at North Piha.
Finally we got a carnival with some waves with an even 1.5m swell.  These conditions provided a good test for competitors and some exciting racing (especially for the Boaties).
Orewa dominated the event winning overall honours well ahead of Red Beach and Piha.  Full results can be found on the Northern Region website.
This is the first time that Orewa has ever won overall points at a senior Carnival.  Well done everyone and congratulations to the Coaches!
We now have a team achieving good results across all events in all 3 age groups, plus the Boaties contributing points to our overall tally.  This augers well for the Championship carnivals later in the season.
The team was boosted by the return of Georgia Butt and Teneale Hatton from stints in Australia and Jason Harvey coming out of “retirement”.
The Under 16 team was particularly dominant on both the beach and in the water winning the majority of their events and in a lot of cases filling first and second places.  These guys were rewarded with 4 of them being selected to represent Northern Region in the upcoming Trans Tasman series.

Some key news from the day:
Jed has taken over from Sweetie as the most capped Carnival Clown.
Can someone please bring Botch some real coffee to the next carnival.
Burgie is (still) a burglar – but we’ll take the points!!
Jenny Wilson can put the tent up while lying down.
Who bought Skippy that hat?  And why did he wear it??
We had a Beach Relay team that didn’t drop the baton.
Chris McCarthny went in his first ever Surf Race.  He has now retired from competitive swimming.
Who spent the whole day reading a book instead of supporting her son?
Rachel can do Beach Flags and squeal at the same time.
Broken Bum still has a broken bum.
Swimmers don’t like dodging Surf Boats in their races.
Someone please tell Skippy what colour the Ski cans are.
Stu has some firewood for sale.

Keep up the good work team!!

Teneale Hatton On Form In Australia
Teneale Hatton has continued her impressive form in Australia, finishing second in the open women's ski race in the second round of the prestigious Ocean Assault series in Kawana, Queensland, today.(23/11/08)
Teneale proved her win in the under-19 ski race at the Australian championships earlier this year was no fluke, dominating that agegroup in both races this weekend and improving on her fifth in the opening round yesterday to place just behind Cronulla's Kelly Jury.
Rachel Clarke took away 2nd in the U19 ski race, and placed 1st in the U19 taplin with Teneale and team mate Hannah Jacobson.
(from SLSNZ website)