Sydney clubs certainly made their presence felt with some exceptional performances at the 2017 NSW Surf Life Saving Open Championships held at Blacksmiths Beach last weekend.

Newport were too strong for Northern Beaches rivals Manly in the overall club point score taking out the title for the fourth year in succession.



Bate Bay clubs Wanda, North Cronulla, Cronulla and Elouera all enjoyed a strong campaign finishing inside the coveted top 10.



With a number of professional Iron athletes among the Sydney ranks the three-day competition was primed to be a fantastic showdown.



Newport’s Georgia Miller finished her campaign with five gold (including the individual Board, Swim and Ironwoman titles) and a silver medal. Kendrick Louis (Manly) added 5 more medals including the Open Ironman Gold to his collection, while his club mate the evergreen Nathan Smith (Manly) enjoyed a memorable weekend finishing with four golds.



Young guns Chris King (Elouera U17), Lizzie Welborn (North Bondi U19), and Jacob Lollback Memorial Trophy winner for the second straight summer Charlie Brooks (Newport) all showed that the Board race will continue to strengthen in Sydney well into the future.



On the sand there was a number of strong performances led by Isabellah Walker (Cronulla U15s) her team mate Chloe Mannix-Power (U17s) who powered to her third straight title in progressive age groups, and rising star Sophie McGovern (North Curl Curl) who won the U19s before backing up to take silver in the Opens behind Laura Shorter (Newport).



In the men’s beach events Jake Lynch (Newport) won his third state crown in the Open Sprint holding off club mate Blake Drysdale and former winner Dean Scarff (Collaroy). Drysdale would go on to get his individual gold in the Open Flags.



NSW Surf Sports Manager Rob Pidgeon felt that despite a challenging start due to the conditions, the State Championships put an exclamation point on what has been another successful summer for the sport.



“I would like to congratulate everyone for what was an extremely successful Open Championships and can safely say that we were all treated to a wonderful few days of racing that while extremely competitive was always conducted in the right spirit.



“There’s a lot to like about the performance of our athletes and I think that next month’s Australian Championships is shaping up to be a big one for NSW competitors.” Mr Pidgeon said.



2017 Open Championship Club Point Score:



Newport SLSC 425

Manly LSC 343

Wanda SLSC 202

North Cronulla SLSC 174

Cronulla SLSC 144

Umina SLSC 128

Redhead SLSC 115

Avoca Beach SLSC 112

Freshwater SLSC 93

Elouera SLSC 89



The NSW Surf Life Saving Age Championships, proudly supported by Your local club returns to Blacksmiths Beach, Swansea in 2018 from Feb 24 – March 11 for another exciting year of competition.