Sunday, June 3, 2001

[WORLD OCEAN GAMES]

DENNIS ODA / STAR-BULLETIN
Five competitors ran and grabbed rubber flags in the Beach Flag
contest of the Hawaiian International Ocean Challenge for
lifeguards yesterday at Kailua Beach. Jean-Patrick Godbout,
front right, eventually won the flag event.

Australian
lifeguards triumph

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By Grace Wen
Star-Bulletin

Mouthfuls of salt water and faces covered with sand didn't make Team Australia's victory any less sweet in the 12th annual Hawaiian International Ocean Challenge, a competition for some of the world's top lifeguards.

Team Australia captured its ninth championship in dramatic fashion yesterday. After two full days of competition, the Australians had less than a one-point lead over team California going into the final event of the day -- the ocean medley relay.

It looked like California might win with a strong start in the swimming leg by Heidi Hannenian and Blaine Morgan.

But Dean Gardiner, the winner in yesterday's surf ski race, made up ground and allowed team Australia to come back and take a huge lead that left the rest of the field battling for second place.

"That was a pretty scary thing to start off with," said Hayden Kenny, manager of team Australia. "We had to come from behind, from fourth. (But) it's always great to be back in the winner's box.

"The good thing is the way it happened. We had to really work hard for it. Before, in some of our early wins, we had a fairly good advantage over some of the other teams."

California finished third in the medley race and second overall. Last year's champion, New Zealand, took third place with team Hawaii landing in the fourth spot.

Despite a surprise win by Canada West in the outrigger canoe preliminary heat, Hawaii opened the day by winning the final heat.