Plenty of medals were won and lost but the Overall Point Score remains up for grabs as the 2024 NSW Surf Life Saving Open Championships, proudly presented by Your local club barrels towards its final day.
It all comes down to this – after 11 days of elite competition at Queenscliff SLSC, Freshwater SLSC and North Steyne SLSC, the finals package of individual events slated for tomorrow’s program will mark the end of the State Championships for another year.
The final weekend kicked off with teams events in the water and individual runs and flags, as well as relays, in the sand.
It began well for Redhead SLSC, cleaning up the U19 category of the Board Relays with the Male team of Blake Cook, Kane Edwards, and Brodie Wright coming up trumps in their final before Charlie Burns, Tully Elliott, and Lani Waller won the Female.
Swansea Belmont then continued the Hunter Branch success in the U15s and U17s Male, with Kai Cook, Will Paterson, and Hamish Rae winning their 15 Board Relay final almost simultaneous with Billy Foran, Samuel Murphy, and Aidan Rae crossing the line down the beach in the 17s.
In the Surf Teams, Warilla-Barrack Point SLSC took out the U15 Male – Maddix Burke, Mack Elliott, Max Miller, and Kobe Sims backing up strong Country performances – while Black Head SLSC, travelling from the Lower North Coast, picked up an unexpected third in the U15 Female through Miley Cox, Bronte Kippax, Ashleigh and Ella Pegrum.
As the day progressed, Cudgen Headland SLSC picked up a great win in the U17 Female Taplin with Scarlett George, Niamh Sharpe, and Isabella Tate, before North Bondi SLSC’s Benedict Christensen, Fred Carmody, and Jake Walker won the U19 Male.
Newport SLSC dominated the Double Ski results, highlighted by a clean sweep of the podium – and indeed fourth place, too – by the club’s A-D team in the Open Female.
Cudgen’s Charlie George and Phoenix Preston picked up a win in the U15 Male Board Rescue, and Cooks Hill SLSC’s Lily Egan and Alexis Sutherland came close to beating a strong Newport team in the U15 Female, but eventually settled for second.
Closing out the day, Redhead was victorious in the Mixed Taplin with its team of Charlie Burns, Daniel Collins, Isak Costello, Tully Elliott, Justin McMorland, and Lani Waller.
In the sand, Dylan Kinkade from Forster SLSC made his trip worthwhile by medalling in the U17 Male Sprint and Flags – the latter a gold – and Tahlia Goy from Shelly Beach SLSC won the U15 Female Sprint.
In the Opens, Mollymook SLSC’s Brock Scrivener beat clubmate, Sam Zustovich and Elouera SLSC’s Peter Thoroughgood to the Open Male gold medal. That result was flipped for the Mollymook boys in the Open Flags, while Alex Rampoldi from North Cronulla SLSC beat teammate, Lucy Flanagan in the Open Female Flags.
Emerson Leadbeatter grabbed another gold for Swansea Belmont in the U17 Female Flags.
The 2024 NSW Surf Life Saving Open and Surf Boat Championships, proudly presented by Your local club, wrap up tomorrow with an individual finals package to be streamed live on Facebook, YouTube and Kayo Freebies.
Saturday 16 March 2024