SKI CELEBRATIONS ARE ANYTHING BUT TAME

April 1, 2012: Lachlan Tame went into today's open single ski race with something to prove and his jubilation on crossing the line confirmed it was mission accomplished.

Tame, from Avoca Beach on the NSW Central  Coast, was defending champion but convinced he had not been given full respect for his victory in 2011.

In an attempt to prove to the surf lifesaving world he should be ranked with the best ski paddlers, he powered onto a wave to race clear of the field and had time to thrust his arms in the air and toss his paddle away as he beat veteran Peter Scott (Redhead) and Reece Baker (Trigg Island).

"Some people said I won last year because (Olympic kayaking gold medallist) Ken Wallace pulled out but I raced him three times that season and won," Tame said.

"I raced him today but I didn't see him."

Tame ran to his raucous Avoca Beach team mates and was thrust onto their shoulders as the close-knit club
celebrated their mate's triumph.

He was also congratulated by former ironman star Dean Mercer who shook him by the hand and said "you were sensational", to which Tame replied that he still has a race vest signed by Mercer hanging on his wall at home.

If Tame's win was vindication, Hugh Dougherty's victory in the men's open board race was a triumph of persistence and a deserved gold medal for the man considered one of the nicest on the beach.

The board race normally provides a blanket finish but on this occasion Dougherty and Maroochydore's Beau
Farrell broke away from the pack to fight out the finish where the Tugun stalwart was quicker to his feet and won the race by five metres.

It was a breakthrough victory that pleased many of the crowd watching.

"Board is my strongest leg but I've never been able to do very well in the final before," Dougherty said.

"I've had plenty of fourths and fifths but never won and I've been trying for 10 years but today it all fell into place."

Daniel Shade was third in the board race final but found his gold medal later in the day when he teamed with good mate Chris Parker to win the board rescue for Avoca  Beach.

It was the first Australian championships gold medal as a pair but they have been paddling together since they were 11 years old and have claimed a swag of state golds.

There would have been few more laid back winning teams to pick up gold medals but when the race was there to be won Shade and Parker were as focused as anyone and finished ahead of Cudgen Headland's Jarrad Cain and Scott McCartney and Kurrawa's Luke Cuff and Ky Hurst.

It was a friendly finish in the open women's surf race as good mates Courtney and Bonnie Hancock of Northcliffe and Miranda Bell of Maroochydore raced for gold.

Courtney Hancock and Bell led the field to the beach and Bell had a slight advantage as they started running for the finish but she was never going to beat the faster Hancock, whose sister Bonnie placed third.

"We are such good friends and we have spent some important time together over the past few days," Hancock said, referring to the events following the tragic drowning of Bell's clubmate Matthew Barclay last
Wednesday.

"To see Miranda and her Maroochydore team mates come down to race after that was really fantastic."