The stalwarts of Surf Life Saving have hit the beach at Queenscliff as Day One of the 2024 NSW Surf Life Saving Masters Championships, proudly presented by Your local club, saw a slew of individual medals earned across almost all surf sport disciplines.
The first of two days of Masters competition promised to award an enormous chunk of gold medals to worthy winners, with all individual events on the program running through to finals ahead of tomorrow’s team event slate.
North Bondi SLSC leads the way at the halfway point and is eyeing off taking out both the Age and Masters Overall Point Score titles. Their lead is a significant one over Bondi SBLSC, who holds its own lead back to Shelly Beach SLSC in third.
Staring into the near-blinding sun when competition began early in the morning on 13 March, Mona Vale SLSC’s Kristyn Monnock was among the women who navigated somewhat tricky surf conditions the best on her ski, picking up a win in the 50-54 Female category.
Nikki Fitzsimmons from The Lakes SLSC also medalled, taking a gold home with her to the Central Coast for her efforts in the 35-39 Female Ski. Another gold taking a slightly longer trip home came from the 45-49 Male Ski – that of Nathan Croal from Swansea Belmont SLSC.
A Clovelly SLSC one-two was a major highlight from the Female Board Race timetable, with Jo Emery and Philomena Pettit taking gold and silver in the 60-64 Female category for the Sydney club. Wendy Pepper also just missed the podium.
Hunter/Central Coast dominated the 40-44 Male Board, with Hayden Smith (Terrigal SLSC), Mark Ayre (Redhead SLSC) and Matthew Zalbergs (Shelly Beach) medalling, while Paul Lemmon, also of Terrigal, added to his incredible collection of Masters medals with another gold in the 55-59 Male Board.
Jordan White of Warilla-Barrack Point SLSC, back to full health after being hampered at her home Country Championships earlier this year, was too strong in the 30-34 Female Surf Race, and Samantha Wolf from Bondi Surf Bathers LSC beat out Jeunesse Meldrum from Yamba SLSC to the 45-49 Female Surf Race gold.
Mal Allen from The Lakes pipped Ash Brown from Newport SLSC to the 50-54 Male Surf Race win, while Stephen De Lorenzo won gold for Wollongong City SLSC in the 65-69 Male swim.
Blair Day won gold in the 35-39 Male Iron, giving Warilla-Barrack Point another medal, joining clubmate Nicole Sims at the top of the podium, herself a champion in the 40-44 Female Iron.
On the track, Warwick Cavanagh from North Cronulla SLSC was the quickest in the 75-79 Male Beach Sprint, Stephen Nelson of Queenscliff SLSC gave the home crowd something to cheer in the 60-64 Male Sprint, and Sharon Deans from Coogee SLSC won the 50-54 Female Sprint.
Edel Dickson won South Maroubra SLSC a gold medal in the 45-49 Female Beach Flags, and Jeremy Knott of Cronulla SLSC was victorious in the 30-34 Male Flags, beating reigning champion – Manly LSC’s Michael Kember – to the beach track double in the process.
The 2024 NSW Surf Life Saving Masters Championships, proudly presented by Your local club, is back again tomorrow with an entire slate of team events to close out the competition. From Friday, Open and Surf Boats competitors will descend on Queenscliff.
For full event info go to the Event Page. For results, visit LiveHeats.
Wednesday 13 March 2024