Paul Clout, Surf Life Saver

Paul Clout (Year 9) was a stand out athlete for the Bay team at the Regional U14s BOP Team Surf Life Saving Champs on Friday. The team did extremely well, achieving second place (silver medal) just 2.5 points behind Auckland. Paul was the starter in the sprint relay team, gaining them first place in his ‘leg’ with the BOP team, and coming in second out of seven regions in that event. In the beach individual sprints Paul had a blinder, but was pipped at the post, coming second, with the same result in the beach flags.

The final event for the day decides which region has the all-round fitness, strength and determination to name themselves as the kings and queens of the beach! This event includes all ten athletes of each region doing different events throughout the relay. Paul was given the task of running 400m at a 200m pace. Once again he didn’t let his team down; he pulled the team out to a great lead of 200m which we needed to compensate for other regions being stronger in different legs of the relay. The BOP team came out on top and won the race comfortably. We congratulate Paul, and look forward to seeing his developing skill in this highly competitive sport.

Photo courtesy of Jamie Troughton
Sports reporter, Bay of Plenty Times

Back to News