Sara Tazaki had a ironwoman race to remember at the Ocean 38 surf carnival on Saturday

In the first short course carnival of the summer season, Northcliffe rising star Sara Tazaki had an ironwoman race victory she’ll never forget.

IN the first short course carnival of the summer season, Northcliffe rising star Sara Tazaki had an ironwoman race victory she’ll never forget.

In her first foray into the Under 17’s age category at the Point Danger Branch Oceans 38’s carnival on Saturday, the 16-year-old entered the final boasting good form in the board and swim legs.

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But the final couldn’t have painted a different picture.

“I was pretty nervous going into it,” Tazaki said after being one of the strong performers in the ironwoman heats.

“I was coming close to last in the board and was two waves behind the lead group.

“I dropped my board on the beach and went around the second turning pole and thought ‘I should be able to catch them.’”

Sara Tazaki after taking out the under 17 ironwoman race. Picture supplied.

As well as laying claim to an extensive list of surf life saving achievements, Tazaki is also star swimmer and won both the 5km and 7.5km races at the 2019 national open water championships.

She powered her way into the lead pack by the time they reached the turning cans and started the final sprint to the finish near equal with Currumbin product Ruby Meehan.

“As we were running, we collided into each other,” Tazaki said.

“I went flying but we managed to gain our balance and sprint to the finish.

“It was a wild race.

“We hugged afterwards so there was a lot of sportsmanship.”

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Tazaki was also a member of Northcliffe’s winning under 19 taplin team just weeks after she was part of the Australian youth surf life saving team for the International Surf Rescue Challenge in South Africa.

“I got to rub shoulders some of Australia’s best, interact with the open team and make new friends from around the world,” she said.

“I was the youngest in the team so they (the open Australian team members) looked after me and gave me some good advice.”

The Northcliffe Under 19 winning taplin team. Picture supplied.

Despite emerging victorious on Saturday, Tazaki was quickly brought down to earth by her Northcliffe teammates on Sunday morning.

Attending training at the club yesterday morning, Tazaki lined up alongside Northcliffe nippers to get a signed trading card from club mate Hannah Sculley which cheekily read “work on your 50m sprint.”

“We swim together at Miami,” Tazaki explained.

“We do sprint sets and she beats me so my coach sort of pretends to be angry and says, ‘you’re a swimmer, you need to be faster than her!’”

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Round two of Oceans 38 kicks off on December 7 at Bilinga.