In the end the battle of the Harbour Bridge came down to just a 13-point margin which was enough for Sydney Northern Beaches to claim a second straight Interbranch title at the annual Surf Life Saving Representative carnival last weekend.


Sydney Northern Beaches (SNB) led from the opening day of the competition but it was a tense afternoon at Black Head Beach as the two fierce rivals (SNB and Sydney) went head-to-head in the team events which would ultimately decide the champion.



A great win in the final race of the day, the Open Female Taplin Relay, sealed the deal for the super excited Sydney Northern Beaches team.



They also enjoyed comprehensive wins in the Open Board Relay, the Youth Mixed Ski Relay and the U14 Cameron event.



Sydney Branch team was just as committed and came across the line first in the Youth Female Taplin, the Female Board Rescue Relay and the U12 Cameron.



In her debut as Team Captain for the Sydney Northern Beaches branch, Maddie Spencer was super proud of the efforts of all the athletes in the extremely windy, choppy conditions.



“The conditions are horrendous. It’s really tricky out there on the craft, it’s even hard to see to swim,” she said.



“It’s been great though, everyone has supported each other. We all pulled together today as we knew it was super close and we knew we had to do the job. Everyone on the team has been amazing, worked together, supported each other, it’s been a real team effort.”



Spencer herself also performed strongly in the individual events winning the Open Female Board and Ski races.



Kaimana Fitcock (Wanda) Female Youth Ski, Gracie Berry (North Bondi) Youth Female Board, and Keira Vincent (Wanda) U1 Female Beach Flags were among the Sydney Branch athletes who enjoyed success throughout the competition.



The NSW Director of Surf Sport, Don van Keimpema, thanked the Black Head SLSC volunteers and work party for hosting a great weekend of racing and congratulated all the athletes, team managers, coaches and officials for their efforts.



“We’re hoping to build this event to be one of the premier events in the state. The team environment we had this weekend was absolutely fantastic,” he said.



He said the performances this weekend had impressed the state selectors and the NSW Team will be announced in the coming week.



Overall Pointscore




  • Sydney Northern Beaches 1198

  • Sydney 1185

  • Hunter 1055

  • Central Coast 1000

  • Far North Coast 834

  • Illawarra 722

  • South Coast 675

  • Mid North Coast 545

  • North Coast 467

  • Far South Coast 311

  • Lower North Coast 267



Wednesday 12 December 2018