KAYAK KING MURRAY NOW SUPREME IN SURF
March 24: Manly's London Olympic kayak hopeful Murray Stewart dethroned paddling king and five-time Olympian Clint Robinson to break a 61-year drought for his club at the 2009 Whereis® Australian Surf Life Saving Championships at Scarborough Beach in Perth.
In the hotly contested men's single ski championship, Stewart took advantage of a strong start to overpower Northcliffe's Tate Smith and 13-times winner Robinson.
It was Manly's first victory in the event since Fred Hanson claimed the gold medal on his home beach in 1948.
On the day Hanson celebrated his 82nd birthday, Stewart lived up to the high rating of his ability to put the sky blue cap back at the top of the single ski victory dais.
The 22-year-old architecture student, who trains with the NSWIS kayak squad and won the K1 500 title at the recent Australian kayak championships, began superbly from the southern end of the start line and opened up a handy lead over Robinson and Smith.
After rounding the final can with a length and a half lead, Stewart then attempted to hold off his pursuers.
Close to the finish Smith pulled ahead slightly but a finishing burst from the Manly man took him to the gold medal.
Asked how winning the single ski title compared with his first national kayaking gold medal, Stewart said: "I think this one I've been aiming for a bit longer.
"I started off as a ski paddler and started doing kayaks to improve my ski paddling so this has been the one that I've been aiming for and to have it finally happen is a dream come true."
Stewart's blistering speed in the final contrasted with some mixed form in the earlier rounds and a disaster in the Interstate championships last Wednesday when he was dumped off his craft twice.
However, the young powerhouse was confident he would show his best in the final.
"This is my first Aussie final. Last year I was knocked out, I was on a winning wave in the semi, slewed and lost my ski," he said.
"Just the pressure of getting to a final is a hard thing to overcome."
Stewart also won a silver medal in the ski relay where he teamed with Blake Ballard and Nick Dawe to finish behind winners Northcliffe.
LOOKOUT IRONMEN, HERE COMES KENDRICK
Collaroy's Kendrick Louis confirmed his rating as the next big thing in Ironman racing when he captured his second under-19 crown at Scarborough.
After an evenly contested ski leg in which Louis's younger brother Bart was also one of the leading pack, the powerfully built older sibling took control.
Showing the benefits of contesting the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Series this season, Louis was cool, calm and collected as he stretched the field in the swim and then paddled into a winning position on the board.
"It's a real thrill to win this race for the second year in a row," he said afterwards.
Louis will now be aiming to match strides and strokes with the likes of Open Ironman winner Pierce Leonard and the sport's superstars Shannon Eckstein and Zane Holmes when he steps up to the Open category next season.
In an action packed weekend for Louis in the under-19 arena, he also struck gold, along with brother Bart and Patrick Nicol - who produced a superhuman effort in the third leg - in the board relay and took silver medals in the surf race, the single ski and the ski relay.
LAURA'S NOT SHORTER OF SPEED
Queenscliff's Laura Shorter proved herself the fastest woman on the sand by taking out the open beach sprint at the Australian championships.
Shorter, the NSW champion, followed up her win the Interstate beach sprint by outpacing Bulli's Cara Langandam and Scarboro's Renee McCabe in the decider.
Collaroy's Elliott Marynissen went close to a gold medal in the under-19 beach sprint but was beaten out by one of the stars of the carnival, Kurrawa's Aaron Stubbs, who won four gold medals on Sunday.
In the under-15 sprint final, Newport's Ben Ambrose took silver, while Manly took silver in the under-19 men's beach relay and bronze in the under-17 relay and in the women's under-17 relay it was Collaroy which took the silver medal.
In the beach flags, Newport's Jake Lynch won bronze in the under-19 division and Collaroy's Katie Williams took silver in the under-17s.
GOLD, GOLD, GOLD FOR MAGNIFICENT MILLERS
It was a golden weekend for Freshwater's three remarkable Miller sisters.
The trio of Alisha (who competes in the under-19 age group), Brooke (under-17) and Georgia (under-15) each claimed a gold medal throughout the championships.
Alisha teamed with Rachel Crerar to win the under-19 board rescue, Brooke won the under-17 board race and Georgia was overwhelmed after winning the under-15 surf race in front of a big crowd.
FLOOD SUFFERS A DROUGHT OF GOOD LUCK
You would wonder what Manly's Naomi Flood did to deserve the amount of bad luck she suffered at Scarborough.
Not only did she miss out in her pet event, the open Ironwoman, there were also a series of other near misses.
In the Ironwoman, Flood led after the opening ski leg and going into the swim, her strongest discipline, her prospects were looking good.
Flood, however, swam too far to the north, allowing a group of rivals using a rip to quickly catch up and then pass her. She eventually fought back to take third place.
In both her double ski races Flood looked to have a gold medal in her sights only to have it taken away by the Scarborough surf.
In the double ski with Jo Brigden-Jones and in the mixed double with Blake Ballard, Flood and her partners were heading for the beach with big leads only for waves to give pursuers a lift and allow them to pass the Manly teams close to the line. Manly took bronze in the double ski and silver in the mixed double.
FLYING SWEEP PUSHES PALM BEACH TO GOLD
The sight of Palm Beach Poison sweep Matt Giblin leaping backwards out of his boat close to the finish of Sunday's under-23 had many spectators scratching their heads.
In a painfully tight finish with the Don McManus-swept Bilgola Gold and Woolamai Beach Sirens, Giblin was prepared to do anything to help his crew to victory.
With the race on the line, he propelled himself backwards into the surf, at the same time hoping his push-off would send the boat to the finish line faster.
Whether it made a difference or not, the Poison grabbed the gold, with Bilgola placed third. The other Palm Beach crew in the final, the Power Rangers, finished fourth.
It was the only Sydney Northern Beaches gold medal in the boat arena.
In the open men's final, Bryce Munro's Mona Vale Black crew finished sixth; defending champions South Curl Curl Gold were eliminated in the semi-finals of the open women's; Queenscliff Rexonas took the bronze medal in the reserve grade boat race; Bilgola Gold were fifth in the under-23 men's final, with Queenscliff Sandbags sixth, and; Newport Gropers were fifth in the under-19 final.
YOUNGSTERS SHOW HOPE FOR FUTURE
The future of Sydney Northern Beaches surf lifesaving is in good hands based on the outstanding efforts of a strong group of young competitors.
Manly's Flo Epper won gold in the under-19 board race and another gold medal in the under-19 surf teams where she teamed with Elly Speer, Emma Williams and Polly Williams to upset the strong Northcliffe and City of Perth teams.
Clubmate Trent Klouzal took silver in the under-17 Ironman and with Adam Crerar and Sam Speer tied for bronze in the Taplin relay, while Speer took silver in the under-17 ski race.
For Freshwater, Devon Halligan took silver in the under-17 Ironwoman, Ben Kirkby, Todd Sample and Jake Nolan won bronze in the under-19 Taplin relay and Jordan Burden swam to bronze in the under-17 rescue tube race.
SNB SHOWS POWER IN R&R
There were plenty of good results for Sydney Northern Beaches clubs in the R&R competition at Scarborough.
Freshwater Maroon took out the prestigious Curlewis 6-Person with the team of Alan Burns, Ian Donald, Wayne Freakley, Jo Kirkby, Peter Obern and Chris Tyrrell, ahead of second placed Collaroy Black. Freakley was a member of the Freshwater team that won the NSW State title and bronze in the Australian final at Kingscliff in 1978.
Collaroy's Paul De Kort, Paul Ducker, Peter McDermott, Emily McKie and Todd Ware won the Open Mixed R&R, Freshwater won silver in the Open Men's 5-person while Collaroy took bronze in the Open Women's 5-Person, the under-19 5-Person, the under-17 5-Person.