At the Manu World Champs first qualifying round in Moana pool on Sunday, Gore’s own, the appropriately named Manu Reedy, placed first in two categories.
She is now a finalist in the traditional "manu" dive-bomb section for women and the "freestyle" dive-bomb section.
Ms Reedy said she and her whanau had a fun time, as expected.
"The atmosphere was cool as, the kids were top notch, it was awesome," she said.
The six Dunedin place getters will be flown to Auckland to jump into the Viaduct Harbour at the grand final in March.
The Gore Aquatic Centre lifeguard placed seventh in the final last time.
Ms Reedy’s two sons Herangi and Houora Rotana, and a carload of friends, also competed in the Dunedin heat.
Her youngest, Houora, won their whole crew "manu" burgers for having the highest splash of the day, which hit the roof, Ms Reedy said.
Despite this, he did not place.
"I think he got ripped off a bit," Ms Reedy said. "Never mind, it happens, they were just happy to be there."
She and another female friend had to compete against all the men, which was intimidating after hearing the dive-bombers hit the water, she said.
"I don’t know how some of the men made it out of the pool, after their back-slaps and leg-slaps and butt-slaps. Oh, my goodness," she said.
This is the first time the manu champs have come to Dunedin and competition founder Scott Rice said it was trying to reach all corners of New Zealand.
Organiser Komene Cassidy had hit it up last season to add a Dunedin stop to the list, and facilitated this year’s heat, he said.
