Female Olympic Gold Medalist And New Youth Male Take Lead In Day One Of EVES NZ Paddle Boarding Nationals!

4th March, 2022

The start of the watersports kicked off today, with paddle boarding athletes from around NZ making their way to Tauranga for the Paddle Boarding Sprint Championships. Waterbourne Beach Festival hosts multiple different sports including paddle boarding, beach volley ball and wingfoiling over a three day period and the first day was full of action.

Jo Aleh, has taken a quick hold on the 2022 National Paddle Boarding title, where she dominated the sprints. Jo is an accomplished athlete winning a Gold and Silver in sailing at the Olympics, where 2021 was her first year winning the Paddle Boarding National title.

Event Director Laurence Carey has said “it is great to see so many females competing this year, especially at the grass roots level! It is going to be an exciting few years ahead for the sport”

Over the last three years, we have seen a range of youth nipping at the heels of reigning national champion Ollie Houghton, where this year Houghton was unable to attend the opening day. This meant that Fergus Dunlop was able to dominate the overall results including his age category of Under 19’s!

Carey has said “Fergus has been in top form the last few years, and it is great to see him doing well now! He is being chased closely by Quinn Piritt and Riley Scott, so the next two days will be interesting during the distance and technical championships on Mt Maunganui main beach.”

None of this could be possible without the fantastic support from EVES, Tip Top, Moa Breweries, Squid Group, TECT, Tauranga Council and Tourism Bay Of Plenty.

Over the next two days Waterbourne will also be hosting the 2022 Beach Volley Ball National Championships and Wingfoil Racing.

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