CURRUMBIN VIKINGS SURFBOAT CREWS BEATING THE CHAMPIONSHIP DRUM
February 11: The Currumbin Vikings surf boat crews are in good shape leading into the Gold Coast City, Queensland and Australian Surf Life Saving Championships over the next month after some eye-catching performances at the Australian Surf Rowers League (ASRL) Open at Wollongong last weekend.
The rain-affected weekend attracted over 400 crews from around the country with waves peaking at two metres but the Vikings crews showed just why Currumbin is one of the premier surf boat clubs in Australia.
The highlight came from sweep Lyle Clark's Stockland Barbarians with the reigning Australian Open Champions winning the prestigious A grade title.
The team of new boy Mac Hamilton, Glen Williams, Randall Martin and Nick Parr were head and shoulders above the rest of the field over a weekend where they stood tall and never looked troubled.
The strong arms of Williams wrestled with Clark on the sweep oar in a spectacular semi-final win, showing some great boatmanship to keep the boat straight on a tricky 1.5m wave.
"The Barbarians are on track for a good showing at the Queensland Championships and the Aussies - both at Kurrawa," said Clark.
"The boys would love nothing more than to win back-to-back Aussies and our recent win at the Manly carnival and in Sunday's ASRL final were both very satisfying indeed."
The club's under 19 Highlanders also looked the goods at Wollongong and finished a very strong third in the final after leading out of the turning buoys and for most of the way home, only to see two crews, Alexandra Headlands and Broulee come from behind on a wave.
Over 45 under 19 crews turned out in a spirited competition with the Highlanders (Sweep Pat McGuire and crew Evan Mills, Declan Smith, James Stephens and Sam McLeod) defeating current National Champions, Bulli, in the process.
They will line up alongside the vastly improved Currumbin Spartans crew of Mark Owens (sweep) Bradley Elliott, Lindon Miranda, David Gruhl and Keiran Russell at this weekend's Gold Coast City Titles at Burleigh Heads.
While the Barbarians will rest this weekend Owens improving A grade team, of Ben Elliott, Daniel Cruse, David Hillier and David Nelson will represent the Vikings and will be one of the crews to beat.
Owens is happy with their progress, saying: "The boys made it through to the semi-finals in Wollongong and always looked dangerous, especially for a crew that came together late in the season.
"They remain very competitive and although the under 19 Spartans were only slightly off the pace, on their current form they are really taking it to the Currumbin Highlanders."
Sweep Matt Wildman's Valkyrie open women's crew of Rebecca Callanan, Amy Ryan, Michelle Gaffney and Kathy Scott are also getting back to their early season form.
They made it through to the semi-finals in Wollongong and will be eying off a place in the State and Australian finals.
Currumbin under 23 girls, the Cha Cha's were the hard luck story of the carnival after a controversial elimination in their semi-final, where they appeared to qualify for the final but incurred the wraith of the judges - going from second to fourth or fifth.
The Cha Cha's showed their ability when they were hit by a wave going out in the quarter finals but came from last to third in one of the rows of the day.
In another major boost for the Currumbin Vikings, the club will launch its latest addition to its impressive fleet when Gold Coast Mayor, his worship Ron Clarke christens the Stockland sponsored surf boat tomorrow afternoon.
See What happens at the launch of the Vikings new boat....
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