THRILLS AND SPILLS AS MASTERS CHAMPS GET UNDERWAY
Wednesday 7 March 2018
Mother Nature threw up a challenge with a surging swell and swirly wind, but the veteran competitors relished the conditions during what was a sizzling first day of action at the 2018 NSW Masters Surf Life Saving Championships, proudly supported by Your local club.
In what is shaping up to be the battle for Bondi, Bondi Surf Bathers proved to be the early pacesetters racing to first place by the end of the day’s proceedings.
Defending champions North Bondi SLSC are sitting in second with Redhead surging to third on the back of some encouraging results.
Individual events were the focus of day one with the competition commencing under strikingly blue skies, and the presence of a strong shore dump certainly made things interesting as competitors negotiated the tricky conditions.
It was a solid day of racing for Trent Martin (MacMasters Beach) who took home medals in all five of his events including gold in the 30-34 Surf Race, Ironman and Board Race.
Other winners in the highly competitive age group included Redhead’s Adam Rowe (Ski), North Bondi’s Dean Scarrf who claimed the Beach Sprint/Flag double, and Quentin Reeve (Palm Beach) who was first past the post in the 2KM Beach Run.
Quentin Reeve (Palm Beach)
Some of the female athletes who enjoyed success included North Bondi’s Eloise Starr (Rescue Tube Rescue), Nicole Jones (Beach Sprint), and Emily Gillies (Ski).
“It was an awesome race fantastic to get my first ski gold. The start really set us up perfectly and there was a lot of whitewash to navigate,” said Gillies.
Wednesday proved busy for the Bondi lifesaver who also took gold in the 30-34 Board Race, bronze in the Board Race, and silver in the Rescue Tube Rescue and Ironwoman.
Other water athletes to shine included Terrigal’s Paul Lemmon who took home gold in the 50-54 Surf Race, Rescue Tube Rescue, and Ironman events, and former Aussies Ironman Champion Robert Chapman (Bondi Surf Bathers) who won gold in the 60-64 Iron and Surf Races and finished just outside the medals in the Rescue Tube Rescue.
Blacksmiths is proving to be a happy hunting ground for Mei-Ling Venning who claimed three gold medals in the 70+ Surf Race, Beach Sprint and Flag events to back up her performances from 2017. Club mates Barbara Attard and Wendy McNamara were among a host of Toowoon Bay athletes to stand on the podium.
Also enjoying the conditions was North Avoca’s Kim Findlay who claimed bronze in the 35-39 Rescue Tube, Ski, and Board Races before storming home to convincingly win the Ironwoman.
“It was great to get a win today as this is what I train for. Training has been going really well we have a great group at North Avoca and with a full program scheduled it’s fantastic to be back in the water,” she said.
There was action on the beach too with a number of impressive results as the athletes loosened their hamstrings and channelled their inner Usain Bolt to scorch the track on the way to sprint or flag glory.
Melanie Brock (Manly)
Male Winners on the track included Rubin Ruzicka (Newport), Nigel Kassulke (Manly), and Maxwell Murphy (South Maroubra).
While Davina Strauss (Coledale), Sophie Stokes (Mona Vale), and Robyn Henderson (Queenscliff) also medalled in their respective events.
Right; Sophie Stokes (Mona Vale)
Competition was fierce in the Beach Flags as expected and with the event’s first aiders subtly moving into position in case they were needed the athletes had no hesitation in putting their bodies on the line.
One of the most closely fought races was the Male’s 40-44 event eventually taken out by Wade Alcock (Caves Beach) who did just enough to hold off Warriewood’s Ben Hargy.
“It was very competitive the boys certainly pushed me all the way. It’s great to compete at a familiar beach, the sand was very soft which made it challenging but fortunately I managed to convince the officials to let us run with that wind rather than against it,” Alcock said.
The 2018 NSW Masters Championships, proudly supported by Your local club continues tomorrow Thursday 8 March with the team events. Action kicks off at 8:00am AEDT
Day One Masters Point Score
Bondi Surf Bathers LSC – 310
North Bondi SLSC – 221
Redhead SLSC – 148
Queenscliff SLSC – 131
Coogee SLSC – 131
Toowoon Bay SLSC – 120
Umina Beach SLSC – 108
Manly LSC – 98
Palm Beach SLSC - 87
Mona Vale SLSC - 83
BONDI SURF VETERANS VICTORIOUS AT STATE CHAMPS
Thursday 8 March 2018
Australia’s most iconic beach location boasts two surf life saving clubs and both have taken their place on the podium at the 2018 NSW Masters Surf Life Saving Championships at Blacksmiths Beach.
Bondi Surf Bathers LSC, arguably Australia’s oldest surf life saving club, eclipsed its rivals this year to claim the top spot, finishing well ahead of second place getter and neighbouring club, North Bondi SLSC.
With only a handful of points still to be counted from the Masters surfboat event yet to be contested, Bondi safely celebrated their victory at Swansea Belmont SLSC after two days of all out competition.
For the first time in four years, a newcomer has broken into the top three which has been dominated by Bondi, Nth Bondi and Queenscliff who have taken it in turns to take the title. The team from Redhead SLSC managed to push Queenscliff out into fourth spot with some great performances in the water events, especially the skis.
But it was the distinctive navy blue and white caps that kept coming across the line for Bondi that made it almost impossible for other clubs to make their mark. Last year’s winner North Bondi mounted a mighty effort but even deep-seated rivalry wasn’t enough to retain the trophy.
Legend surf athlete and former Australian Champion Ironman Bob Chapman had a great return to racing, collecting gold in the 60-64 year Surf Race and Ironman and bronze in the 150 years Surf Team and Ski Relay with his new club mates.
In his first State Masters hitout with new club Bondi, ‘Chapo’ said that although he was a bit rusty at some of the finer points of ironman racing, he was really enjoying competing again. Chapman is coaching the younger competitors and is using his expertise in an effort to rebuild competition capacity at the club.
“It’s been a great couple of days. It’s good to be competing again, I’m loving the training and all I need now is a couple of new knees,” said the former Open Champion.
Other Bondi competitors on the podium included Dean Gladstone, Ryan Jenkin and Simon Nothling in the 35-39 years, Blake Francis, Calvin Brodie, Robert Harvey, Greg Brynes and William Hardman in the 40-49 years and Iain Macfarlane in the 35-39 Beach Sprint. Fiona Nay and Fiona Tschaut were gold and silver in the 35-39 Surf Race, Laura Thurtell and Kristie Krenkels were all over the 50-54 swim events and Leah Trebilcock and Emily Gillies went one two in the 30-34 Ironwoman and Single Ski and Emily also grabbed the Board Race gold medal for good measure.
Dori Miller successfully retained her long held title in the 45-49 Surf Race and also took out the Rescue Tube Race. Cyril Baldock and Jan McCloskey carried the can for the club in the 70+ events.
Notable performances for the North Bondi team included Andre Dalton in the 40-44 Ironman and Board, Scott Thompson in numerous individual and teams events in the 50-54, Greg Clifford in the 60-64 years events and Jim Walker won gold in the 45-49 years Ski and Double Ski.
Former Collaroy competitors helped spearhead the North Bondi effort, with Dean Scarff in his first Masters event for his new club taking gold in the 30-34 Beach Sprint and Flags and Ross Langbein doing the same in the 35-39 years.
Stand outs among the masters women included Eloise Starr in the 30-34 years and Jane Cichero in the 55-59 year events.
2018 NSW SURF LIFE SAVING CHAMIPONSHIPS MASTERS RESULTS
2018 NSW MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS OVERALL RANK AND POINTS REPORT
 | 2018 NSW Masters Surf Life Saving Championships Overall Results.pdf Size : 98.453 Kb Type : pdf |
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