OLYMPIC STARS LINE UP FOR TASTE OF SURF LIFE AT SCARBOROUGH
March 12: Olympic stars Ken Wallace, Clint Robinson and Ky Hurst will be among over 5500 competitors who will converge on Scarborough Beach in Western Australia next week for the 2009 Whereis® Australian Surf Life Saving Championships.
The six-day Championships will kick off on Tuesday March 17 with the opening day of Masters competition and will close on March 22 with "Finals Sunday."
Wallace, Olympic gold medallist in the K1 500 in Beijing, will be challenging for his first ever Australian open single ski title - an event which has been dominated for almost two decades by kayaking great Clint Robinson.
Maroochydore's Robinson, five-time Olympian and 1992 gold medallist in Barcelona, has won the coveted single ski crown 13 times since 1991 and collected a total of 36 gold medals across all events throughout his career.
The pair will be joined by fellow Olympians Peter Scott (1996-2000) who won the title in 2007 and Beijing paddlers Tate Smith (Northcliffe), Jacob Clear (Burleigh Heads-Mowbray Park) and Tony Schumacher (Cronulla).
Olympic K4 bronze medallist Hannah Davis will represent Glenelg in the women's single ski against a red hot field, including emerging NSWIS kayaker Jo Brigden-Jones and Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Ironwoman champion Naomi Flood (Manly).
Hurst, 11th in the 10km open water event in Beijing, is a five-time Australian open surf race champion and will line up in an all-star open surf race field, including Trigg Island's two-time Olympian Travis Nederpelt and 1996 Atlanta Olympian Mal Allen.
All three will also contest in the Restricted Over 24 years surf race championship.
Another prolific Australian champion, 1992 Barcelona Olympian Dean Pieters (Trigg Island), will race in the 40-44 years Masters surf race and tube race.
Joining the Olympic stars will be celebrated Ironmen Shannon Eckstein and Zane Holmes, who will again spearhead the Northcliffe Club who will be chasing their sixth straight club championship.
Eckstein is the defending National Ironman champion who will be looking to take his fourth Australian title, while Holmes has not won the title since 2004.
The pair have dominated the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Iron Man Series this season and Eckstein is keen to keep his amazing record in tact.
"I certainly have some happy memories of last year and it would be special to go back-to-back again after winning the world title and the Kellogg's title," said Eckstein, who will captain the Australian team to South Africa later this month.
"Zane is such an awesome competitor and Pierce Leonard will also be tough to beat."
Leonard is the 2007 Australian Ironman Champion and 2009 Queensland champion, who is coming into form at the right time of the year.
Holmes has added a new event to his schedule, the Open Belt, after winning the title at the Queensland Championships at Kawana Waters two weeks ago.
Victory would see his name alongside some of the who's who of swimming, including Olympians Pieters (1990-91), Simon Upton (1989), Ron McKeon (1984), Graeme Brewer (1980-83), Neil Rogers (1976), Graham Windeatt (1974), Graham White (1970) and the late Terry Buck (1965).
"It is something different, I really enjoyed the experience at the Queensland Championships and if there is a wade then I'll be really happy," said the long striding Holmes, who will drop the surf race to contest the belt championship.
In the Ironwoman, all eyes will be on WA's local hero, Alicia Marriott, who stunned her home crowd last year when she became the first Western Australian to win the Australian Ironwoman title.
The City of Perth star knows she will have to be on her toes to keep the inform Elizabeth Pluimers and Flood at bay
For live results throughout the Whereis® 2009 Australian Surf Life Saving Championships
http://www.aussies.slsa.asn.au/2009/
Photographs: http://www.harvpix.com/