When I wrote this story in May of 1988 celebrating the recent athletic success of a teenage Jason Hutchings, the oldest son of surf life saving ironman hero Benny Hutchings, I also included mention of the rising star of little brother Cory. Who was then to know that Cory Hutchings would eclipse everyone before him and eventually win eleven New Zealand ironman championships and claim three World ironman titles?

Brothers in arms. Jason and Cory Hutchings in 1988.

For more than two decades the name Benny Hutchings has been almost legendary in New Zealand watersports.

The barrel-chested red-headed ironman from Gisborne has claimed dozens of national honours in surfing, surf life saving and kayak paddling.

Along the way Benny found time to get married and have two sons. The boys are now teenagers and are doing the old man proud. The oldest son, 18-year-old Jason Hutchings, is surf life saving’s newest star with recent success in ironman contests on both regional and national levels.

And little brother, 15-year-old Cory, is right on his brother’s shoulder, sharing the limelight of success.

At the Westpac National Surf Life Saving Championships at Orewa the two brothers came in second and third in order of age in the junior ironman contest — beaten in the last few metres of the race up the beach by fellow Midway Club member Brent Clay. Earlier in the season at the regional championships at Mt Maunganui the two brothers took first and second places in the junior ironman with Jason making history by winning the open senior title as well.

Jason’s bid for the senior ironman title at Orewa unfortunately went awry when he was forced to miss the buoy in the first ski leg of the three discipline event and had to go back around again. He lost any chance he had of battling it out with the eventual winner, Lars Humer of Taylor’s Mistake.

Because of this the 1988 nationals may have been a disappointment for Jason who had set his sights so very high. But he still returned to Gisborne with five gold medals and two silver, including two golds for winning both the junior and open malibu board titles.

So it is with obvious pride that Benny Hutchings sees his two boys following right in his footsteps. Mind you, Benny is not so much moving aside for his sons, but rather moving over to make room for them. For at 41 there’s still a tonne of iron left in the man yet.

He proved this last October by taking third place in the Veteran’s Division of the gruelling Fosters Lager Sydney Ironman Classic. It was a great personal achievement to be placed amongst Australia’s top veteran ironmen in one of that country’s toughest endurance events.

At the Mt Maunganui regional surf carnival in January Benny made the final of the ironman contest along with son Jason. By winning the contest Jason also notched up his first victory over his father in that event. Benny has held the national ironman title and has been runner-up on several occasions.

The Hutchings house in Gisborne is littered with gold, silver and bronze medals that Benny has won in both individual and team events over the years, and the walls are full of photographs of his achievements in surfing and kayak paddling as well. He has held the New Zealand surf board riding championship title and will always be remembered for his part in coaching the 1984 gold medal winning Olympic kayak team to Los Angeles. This year he has been selected as an assistant coach for the Olympic team to travel to Seoul.

So Benny still has much to do on the sporting scene as well as watching his two boys striving for glory of their own.

Still in their teens both boys have so much ahead of them. Jason is the superstar of the moment, but admits that he is looking warily over his shoulder at ‘little’ Cory who has some growing yet to do and has obviously inherited his father’s more solid build.

Jason puts his recent run of victory down to eight weeks he spent in Queensland during the school holidays training with many of Australia’s top surf life-savers. On an Air New Zealand scholarship he stayed at the home of Australian life saving legend Hayden Kenny, the father of Australian ironman superstar Grant Kenny. Based at Alexandra Headlands he trained with Grant Kenny and others. He was impressed by, even envious of, Australia’s professional approach to their chosen sport.

“Both in patrolling and in competition they’re so far ahead of us. To train like they do, up to four hours every day, you have to be a professional, there’s no room for a job.”

The intensity of the Australian experience gave Jason a level of super-fitness he had never before achieved and also a better understanding of top level race tactics. At Mt Maunganui Jason won eight titles, and the Orewa nationals he won five.

Now he’s back at school.

As a 7th former at Gisborne’s Boys’ High School he is realistic enough to know that a drawer full of medals won’t guarantee success outside the sporting arena. He plans to concentrate on his studies for the rest of this year and then on to university to obtain a Bachelor of Arts degree. His junior days are now behind him and he will return to the beach each summer to contest the open events. If he can look to his father for a guide, he so far has another 22 years of top level competing.

Both boys have a ‘hard act to follow’ when Benny’s achievements are stacked up for viewing. With total encouragement from both mum and dad since they were literally nippers they have had it easy compared to Benny’s early days in the movement.

Benny Hutchings was born in Australia and grew up on Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach. He was a promising young member of the Bondi Surf Club until, over two decades ago, he left Australia for New Zealand ‘in disgrace’.

For the Hutchings name was big in the Bondi club. His brother, Brian Hutchings, was then a top Australian swimmer and surf life saving hero of his time.

It was only natural that Benny follow in his big brother’s footsteps, but Benny was distracted — attracted to a new and exciting watersport sweeping the coast of Australia. Surfing was just starting to happen and Benny was happening with it.

In those days of the early 1960s surfing was frowned upon by the old guard of the surf life saving movement. Their point was proven when Benny started skipping training to go surfing. The crunch came when he was caught by his fellow lifeguards surfing in a restricted area. He was banned from surfing at Bondi for three months and was later thrown out of the club.

So Benny left Bondi under a cloud. He followed the surfing lifestyle and it was eventually New Zealand that claimed his talents in and on the water. The surf led him to Gisborne where he married a local girl and set up business as a surfboard manufacturer.

Benny found his way back to life saving through the Midway Surf Life Saving Club which has grown to become one of the top clubs in the country.

His rise as a life saving and surfing superstar is now legend.

So when Benny returned to Bondi last October to contest the Fosters Lager Ironman Classic he was in fact going home to set the record straight.

His ability to successfully enjoy and compete in both surfing and surf life saving has played a pivotal part in healing the rift between the two sports in this country in recent years.

“I went back to Bondi with my head up, to show them that they were wrong. I’ve been a clubbie and I’ve been a surfer and I’m proud of them both.”

At 41 Benny has no thoughts of retirement. There’s too much iron left in the man yet. Encouraging his two sons is a big challenge now, but he is able to do this as a player-coach.

During the running of the Northern Regional ironman final Benny lumbered out of the water as son Jason led the field in for the swimming leg of the race.

Benny was competing for himself but his mind was also on the progress of his son as he looked across the beach to call out: “Big swim Jase, big swim!”