Welcome to the New Zealand Boat Marathon Commission website!!
The New Zealand Boat Marathon Commission was established in 1972 as an overseeing body to coordinate and promote responsible boating, allowing boating clubs to organise and run events to enabling boat owners to compete in a series of nominated speed time trial and speed race events.
News
Debrief Thanks!!
Thanks to those members who contributed to a very productive season debrief meeting in Cromwell.
There were a number of improvement opportunities identified to help make 2019 season even better.
As per the process, clubs have been assigned actions to formulate their proposals officially so they can be communicated amongst all clubs prior to the AGM, where they will be voted on whether to be adopted for the 2019 race season. All club representatives present or who sent an apology have a copy of these minutes.
The 2019 AGM will be held on Tuesday, February the 19th at the Waihola Cafe & Bar, starting at 6:30pm.
Dates have been pencilled in for the 2019 season as per below. Please note these are still to be accepted at the AGM.
Round 1 & 2 – Lakes Dunstan & Roxburgh 6th and 7th April 2019.
Round 3 – Lake Waihola 27th April 2019
Round 4 – Timaru Harbour 18th May 2019
Round 5 & 6 – Lakes Benmore & Aviemore 8th and 9th June 2019
Round 7 – Oamaru Harbour 29th June 2019
Round 8 – Oreti Estuary 13th July 2019
Round 9 – Lake Te Anau 10th August 2019
2018 Championship Wrap Up
The final round of the 2018 NZBMC Championship run by the Gore Boat Club was held on lake Te Anau, on Saturday the 11th of August. Early fog soon broke into a stunning day providing calm conditions for the field of 23 competitors. The ever impressive 34 foot offshore Cat "Fairview" of Warren Lewis' drew the crowds to the lake front for the Marathon race main event, with one of the larger laps of all the races Te Anau provided an opportunity for the twin 525hp Mercruisers to stretch their legs easily taking the win from fellow A Class Multi Rig competitor and fellow North Islanders Shannon Martin in the twin Verado powered Cat "Race For Life".
While both A Class Tunnel and A Class Vee Championships had already been won by Craig Archer in the "Playco" Bullet (vee) and Ryan Archer in the "Hirepool' Stealth (tunnel) there was still a Trophy Championship to fight for with Craig heading into the final round with a slim advantage over Ryan for the CB Marine and Single Rig Driver of the Year Championship honours. From the flag drop the "Playco" bullet got the early lead over "Hirepool" and never looked like giving it up over the 100km race, giving Craig the result the team has been trying hard to win for the last 3 seasons.
B Class honours again went to Jamie Chittock in the Yamaha powered viper "Enforcer" wrapping up an impressive and consistent season for their first year running in B Class giving him the Class Championship.
Greg McEwan had the speed on competitors for C Class in "Vindicated" to take first place for the round however its was not enough to take out the Championship with Nigel Smethurst in the "LJ Hooker" Sonic keeping the point scoring up with a second place giving him enough to take out C Class for 2018.
D Class race honours went to Alan Weir in the Stealth "Pog Mo Thoin". But like C Class a winner had already been determined, as had the Howat Trophy - C & D Class Driver of the Year with an ever consistent performance from John Buckland in "Renegade Fighter / Dreamweaver".
Jane Pollard in "Pacifier" got the last laugh in what has to have been the closest racing all season, finally getting a win over John Weild in "The Stig". John had the E Class Championship sown up prior to the round and also took out the MLC Trophy - E & F Class Driver of the Year and finished the season with the highest points overall giving him the rights to run number 1 for the 2019 season.
A DNF in the final round was still enough to claim Mike Bloxham in "McLay 1" the 2018 F Class Championship.
Life member Doug Payne took out the G Class Honours in "BlackDog Cat".
2018 Nominated Speed Championship went to the hard to beat Martin Heanue in "Hard Target" for the second year in a row, with John Weild, "The Stig" second and Ryan Archer "Hirepool" third.
This wrapped up another action filled season with plenty of close racing, with the inclusion of the two big Cats from the North Island adding another dimension. Awesome to have such a diverse range of boats on the water for the 2018 season. We all look forward to what the 2019 season has in store for us, hopefully the return of the North Island teams. If anyone is interested on competing please get in touch, the class structure ensures you do no need a race boat to be competitive.
Results are available via the link below