Members win medals at 2012 NSW Championships

First up our Nippers contested the 2012 NSW Age Championships at Kingscliff Beach 2-3-4 March with a small squad of eager kids. Well conditions varied over the 3 days of competition with hot sunny days, wet & wild weather, clean surf break followed by massive surf sweeps & dirty water caused by the adverse weather conditions thrown in as well to top off the weekend. A few finals for the kids with top 6 placings to Coen Taylor 5^th in the U9 Male Surf, Ashley Dribbus 6^th in the U11 Female Flags & Kiah Taylor 6^th in the U14 Female Surf.

Congratulations to Ashley Dribbus on winning gold as the NSW Champion in the U11 Female Sprint.

Next it was our grey hair brigade or commonly known as Masters athletes who contested their events on Thursday 8 March. A fine day with a small wave made conditions perfect for competition. Well done to Kimberley Fleming 4^th in the 40-44yrs Female Ski, Peter Lord 6^th in the 40-44yrs Male Ski & Michael Harris 6^th in the 50-54yrs Tube Rescue.

Congratulations to our Masters medal winners namely Kimberley Fleming 2^nd in the 40-44yrs Iron-woman & Peter Richards 2^nd in the 45-49yrs 2km Male Beach Run.

The Senior Section of the club were greated with fine warm weather over the 9-10-11 March with tricky conditions from shore leading to an increase in swell over the 3 days, causing kaos with skis/boards & body surfing skills being tested in the 3ft-4ft waves. The boat events were held at Fingal Beach and they too were greeted with a shore dump & trick conditions.

The Boat Section gained some excellent results with the Men’s A crew being crowned NSW Champions after racing strongly all season. Well done to Paul Jones (sweep), Dean Roberts, Heath Mercer, Ben Lowe & Dan Porra. This crew then teamed with the Open Women’s & U19 Male crews to finish 2^nd in the Boat Relay.....a great club effort!

The Surf/Craft Section gained some great results with everybody putting in 100% in their races. Great to see our Lifesaver Relay Team finish 3^rd in the final and qualify for Nationals in this event. It is a club event with a boat crew, U17, U19 & Female required to be in the team doing boat, swim, board, ski & run legs. Over 58 finals contested by Bulli members over the 4 days including Masters. 11 x top 6 placings gaining points allowing the club to finish 14^th in the Open Club Point-score...not too bad for a small club really!

Proud to announce our NSW Championship Medal Winners;

* GOLD U11 Female Beach Sprint Ashley Dribbus

* GOLD Open Men’s Boat Crew (Paul Jones, Dean Roberts, Dan Porra, Ben Lowe & Heath Mercer)

* GOLD Open Female Ski Hannah Minogue

* GOLD U15 Female Surf Bridgette Lockhart

* SILVER U17 Male Ski Lachlan O’Grady

* SILVER Masters 45-49yrs Male 2km Beach Run Peter Richards

* SILVER Masters 40-44yrs Iron-woman Kimberley Fleming

* SILVER Boat Relay (Open Men’s Paul Jones, Dean Roberts, Heath Mercer, Ben Lowe, Dan Porra - Open Women’s Crew Brittany Sharkey, Ashley Unicomb, Susie Scott, Belinda Scott - U19 Men’s Crew Shane Geloven, Kyle Mercer, Albert Smeaton, Iszak Lunney & Toby Allnutt)

* BRONZE Lifesaver Relay ( Open Men’s A crew, Lachlan O’Grady, Beau Wheeler, Downie langthorne & Hannah Minogue)

* BRONZE Open Men’s Rescue Tube Rescue (Mitchell Fagerstrom, Sean White, Jake Hogarth & Matthew Crilley)

* BRONZE U15 Female Surf Kiah Taylor

* BRONZE Open Female Board Hannah Minogue

* BRONZE Open Iron-woman Hannah Minogue

* BRONZE U17 Male Belt Lachlan O’Grady (Belt Team Dave O’Grady, Jake Hogarth, Peter Lord & Peter Richards)

Top 6 placings for the club over the Age/Masters/Open Championships included;

4^th U15 Female Surf Teams (Emma Brown, Bridgette Lockhart, Abbey Dawson & Kiah Taylor)

4^th Open Male Surf Teams (Beau Wheeler, Sean White, Mitchell Fagerstrom & Oscar Bradley)

4^th 40-44yrs Female Ski Kimberley Fleming

4^th U15 Female Cameron Relay (Emma Brown, Bridgette Lockhart, Kiah Taylor & Morgan Richards)

5^th U17 Iron-man Lachlan O’Grady

5^th U15 Female Surf Emma Brown

5^th U9 Male Surf Coen Taylor

6^th Open Male Board Rescue Mitchell Fagerstrom/Oscar Bradley

6^th U15 Female 2km Beach Run Morgan Richards

6^th Open Mixed Double Ski Downie Langthorne/Hannah Minogue

6^th Open Male Belt Matthew Crilley

6^th Open Male Taplin Relay (Mitchell Fagerstrom, Lachlan O’Grady, Beau Wheeler, Oscar Bradley, Downie Langthorne & Sean White)

6^th U19 Male Board Beau Wheeler

6^th 40-44 yrs Male Ski Peter Lord

6^th 50-54yrs Tube Rescue Michael Harris

6^th U11 Female Beach Flags Ashley Dribbus

6^th U14 Female Surf Kiah Taylor

The club would like to thank our members that drove gear trailers to the championships, sometimes a thankless job but definitely needed to allow our competitors to race. Thank-you to Sean Taylor, Paul Jones, Lincoln Costello, Dave O’Grady & Russell Brinkworth for your efforts in towing our boat & craft trailers.

Not forgetting our hard working officials & team management, including assistant area managers, plus junior & senior competition secretary’s who also put in long hours during & prior to the Junior, Masters & Open Championships. Massive thanks to John Meehan, Dennis Allen, Kevin Starling, Dave Greene, Leanne Taylor, Maria Caldwell, Keith Caldwell, Peter Lord, Stuart Brown, Lisa O’Grady, Sandra Brinkworth, Kris Crilley plus our intitial tent set-up people Sean Taylor & Paul Dawson. If any name has been missed apologies but your help was greatly appreciated. Thanks to all the supporters including parents that travelled to these championships.

Good luck to everybody attending the 2012 Australian Open/Masters Championships at Kurrawa Beach, Queensland in late March.