MELISSA'S MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

April 10: Beach flags queen Melissa Howard made it a magnificent seven Australian open flags titles as she overcome perhaps her greatest rival at the DHL 2011 Australian Surf Life Saving Championships at Kurrawa today.

Howard had suffered losses to Kurrawa clubmate Chanel Hickman at the New Zealand and Queensland championships earlier this season but on the sand she calls home was able to turn the tables.

She and Hickman were the final pair in the event and Howard won a desperate grab for the flag, which afterward she refused to give up and will go in a vase on her mantelpiece along with her other six from Aussies victories.

Drawn on Hickman's left, the same position she had in the Queensland and New Zealand titles and on what she considers her weaker side, Howard had special tactics she hoped would give her a change of fortune.

"I knew I just had to stay wide and just run," she said.

"I know I've got the speed so I just had to stay away from her barging and just run there.

"Winning today just meant so much. To get seven ... I wanted it so bad and the win at Aussies is the one to go for.

"We train all year for Aussies, not any other event."

Howard's campaign was upset when her partner Paul Cracroft-Wilson was a shock elimination early in the men's final, which was run simultaneously with the women's event.

"I was distraught and it really caught me out," she said.

"I had to take a moment to regather myself but you have to do what you have to do."

Mooloolaba's Tom Reiken had to overcome a long wait to win his first Australian championships gold medal in the men's flags.

Reiken appeared to have been eliminated when beaten to a flag by Kurrawa's Morgan Foster with only three competitors left in the competition.

But the judges ruled Foster had obstructed Reiken during the run and disqualified him. Reiken was reinstated.

That prompted protracted arguments as Foster's coach Ryan Hoffman claimed his man should stay in the competition.

But the decision to disqualify Foster eventually stood and Reiken beat another Kurrawa runner, Steve Harris, to claim the gold medal.

In the younger age groups, Ben Mispelhorn (Kurrawa - under-19 men), Katie Williams (Collaroy - under-19 women) and Bianca Mould (Avoca Beach - under-15 women) added the flags title to the gold medals they had won earlier in the carnival.