BY GEORGE! O’BRIEN AND MILLER SUPREME IN THE SURF

 Surf Life Saving Australia, April 17, 2015: IT WAS billed as the clash of the swim kings but a new star was born in the one of the best ever Australian Surf Life Saving Championships Open Surf Race finals.

Big George O’Brien emerged from the North Kirra surf to take gold and upstage some of the sport’s biggest names.

The 23-year-old from Kurrawa couldn’t believe his eyes when he got to his feet and saw the finishing tape still in place, crossing the line ahead of Shannon Eckstein (Northcliffe), Tom Fraser-Holmes (Manly) and 10-times champion Ky Hurst (Kurrawa).

“I’m a massive fan of Ky’s. He’s one of my idols considering what he’s done in pool swimming, open water and surf, and to beat him in the surf race is just unbelievable,” O’Brien said.

“The field was unreal, that’s why I just could not believe the tape was still up.”

There was a big crowd and an air of expectation when the men’s field stood at the start line.

With surf king Hurst, Olympian Fraser Holmes, ironman Eckstein, Australian Swim team member Jordan Harrison and a host of other top swimmers at the start line, the field was the best for a surf race in many years.

And it was also one of the longest, with the swim cans set well past the break and turning it into a true test us surf skills and stamina.

O’Brien said he was with Eckstein, Hurst and Fraser Holmes rounding the cans.

“Then a wave came through and I was at the top of it and all of a sudden I pulled down it,” he said.

“I looked up and no-one else was on it.

“Then I was in the gutter and dry sand could not come quick enough.”

O’Brien’s next assignment will be in Cozumel, Mexico, for the FINA/HOSA 10K Marathon Swimming World Cup as he chases an open water swimming berth at the Rio Olympic Games.

Newport’s Georgia Miller was ecstatic as she crossed the line a comfortable winner of her second women’s Surf Race title.

The Newport star had won two years ago at North Kirra and tamed the choppy surf for finish ahead of Northcliffe pair Courtney Hancock and Rebecca Creedy.

“I think I was pretty young and naïve when I was 17 and didn’t know what it meant to win an Open Surf Race, Miller said.

“Coming through and racing all the open girls more has definitely put it into perspective.

“Oh my God, It’s huge, I can’t believe it.”

Miller was swimming alongside Hancock and Miranda Bell (Northcliffe) at the cans then found some good runners before catching a wave that took her clear of the field.

“I held it all the way to the gutter then I just sprinted my heart out coming in because I didn’t know if anyone had caught the wave,” she said.

“I lost sleep last night thinking about my Ironwoman semi so to get that one is a massive relief going into tomorrow.”

Miller added another gold medal to her haul about 20 minutes later when she teamed with Lara Moses to win the board rescue ahead of Sawtell surprise packets Tahlia Kollen and Lauren Dam, and City of Perth’s Jade Mickle and Jayde Hardstaff.

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Issued on behalf of Surf Life Saving Australia by

Ian Hanson| Media Manager Triathlon Australia Managing Director
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