2013 NSW Surf LIfe Saving Championships results - 15 medals

Well done to all of our members that attended the 2013 NSW Age/Masters/Open Surf LIfe Saving Championships recently at Umina/Ocean Beach on the Central Coast.

Some great efforts with heaps of personal achievements recorded, including finals made by our members and podium finishes also.

Big thankyou to all the parents who supported their kids, plus our officials, water safety, boat & craft trailer drivers, area managers who assisted out team manager & power craft personnel who gave up their time.

Congratulations to our medal winners below; 

AGE CHAMPIONSHIPS

2nd U12 Female Beach Flags – Ashley Dribbus

MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS

1^st 40-44yrs Male Double Ski – Michael Locke/Ian Timbrell

2^nd 103+yrs Male Ski Relay – Michael Locke/Ian Timbrell/Peter Lord

3^rd 40-44yrs Iron-Woman – Kimberley Fleming

OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

2^nd Open Female Ski – Hannah Minogue

2^nd U19 Male Rescue Tube Rescue – Joshua Bond/Lachlan O’Grady/Calvin Richards/Beau Wheeler

2^nd U19 Male Ski Relay – Lachlan O’Grady/Joshua Bond/Beau Wheeler

2^nd U19 Male Surf – Beau Wheeler

2^nd U15 Female Rescue Tube – Mali Taylor

2^nd Boat Relay – Open Men (Paul Jones/Dean Roberts/Heath Mercer/Dan Porra/Ben Lowe) U23 Women (Shane Geloven/Olivia Krowka/Sheree Gallagher/Elizabeth Walker/Jenny Harrison) U19 Men (Shane Geloven/Toby Allnutt/Iszak Lunney/Albert Smeaton/Kyle Mercer)

2^nd U23 Men Boat - Lincoln Costello/Damien Clark/Kurt Meusburger/Luke Sheils/Murray Wood

3^rd U19 Male Board – Beau Wheeler

3^rd U19 Female Surf Teams – Jamie Brinkworth/Emma Lockhart/Carly Fagerstrom/Cheyenne Miller

3^rd Open Female Double Ski – Hannah Minogue/Jamie Brinkworth

 3^rd U19 Female Double Ski – Jamie Brinkworth/Emma Lockhart

Good Luck at Open/Masters State to our athletes

Bulli Surf Life Saving Club will be sending a strong team to this weekend’s New South Wales Surf Life Saving Championships on the Central Coast at Umina & Ocean Beach. With over 70 athletes representing the club in Open & Masters ranging from beach, surf, craft & boats events, the club is hoping for some strong results to come their way. After dominating the Illawarra Branch Championships things are travelling good for the northern suburbs surf club.

Expected to shine are the Men’s A crew of Paul Jones, Dean Roberts, Heath Mercer, Ben Lowe & Dan Porra. Recent winners of the ASRL Open at Stockton & Illawarra Branch Champions defeating Australian reps Austinmer, the Bulli boys are looking for a podium finish against some of the best crews in Australia. The U19 Men’s boat crew are also racing well along with the U23 women’s crew, both expected to figure in the finals.   The Lifesaver Relay & Boat Relay teams are hoping to stake a claim for medals in their respective events.

Hannah Minogue is also expected to rise to the top in the Open Female events, especially the iron-woman & ski events.

Matthew Freeman at 31 years of age is making a comeback in the Open Men’s Belt & Rescue Tube Rescue events, a real dark horse as a former winner of both events earlier in his career.

The club also boats some emerging athletes in the U19, U17 & U15 age groups with some strong teams expected to shine in surf/craft events. Look out for Beau Wheeler, Jamie Brinkworth, Lachlan O’Grady & Joshua Bond to lead the way.

Downie Langthorne the club’s respected head surf/craft coach feels that with a bit of luck this weekend the club could pick up a few medals and this will only assist in the next stage of the season ultimately leading into the Australian Championships next month.  

Silver Medal to Ashley Dribbus

Congratulations to Ashley Dribbus on winning a silver medal in the U12 Female Beach Flags event at last weekend's NSW Age Surf Life Saving Championships held on the Central Coast.

Well doen to all of our kids who competed last weekend. Ashley was the clubs sole medal winner from the championships, which were held in cold windy and wet conditions. 

Nipper dates to finish of the season

Just to let our nipper parents know there is no nippers this Sunday 3 March due to NSW Age Surf Life Saving Championships at Umina Beach.

Nippers will be held the following two Sundays namely 10 & 17 March at normal start time (9.30am).

2013 Nipper Annual Presentation Day will be Sunday 24 March 9.30am start. All welcome to celebrate the seasons results, awards presented. BBQ and activitiers for the kids provided.

Any further details conctact bullinippers@gmail.com  

Good Luck to our Nippers at State this weekend

The club has 28 junior members travelling to Umina to SLSNSW Age Championships this week.

Team members were presented with club shirts & backpacks on Sunday at final team meeting (and they looked great too!)

Bulli has kids in all age groups Under 8 through to Under 14 including our All Age Board Relay team who will represent Bulli & Illawarra.

Officials accompanying them include Dennis Allen, Leanne Lunney, Leanne Taylor. IRB drivers/crew & water safety include Glenn Sweeny, Shawn Van Duin, Scott Gordon, Rowan Holland. Thanks to Lincoln Costello for supplying team with backpacks /drink bottles.

Good luck everyone!

1st Motor Neurone Disease Walk in Illawarra

Well everybody was worried about the weather for the 1st Motor Neurone Disease Walk in the Illawarra on Sunday 24 February. But blue skies, warm weather with a nice north easterly wind made the 5km walk a pleasant one.

318 people registered along with 35 dogs and to date the Motor Neurone Disease Association of NSW along with all of the supporters on the day & on line donations have raised $30,990.

Massive effort and well done to Kym & Shelley-Anne as chief organisers. Bulli Surf LIfe Saving Club was proud to be involved in such a worthy cause.

Thank you to our members that assisted on the day selling drinks & setting up tents. Of course a big thankyou to the Lions Club of Woonona who operated the BBQ for the day.

Nippers cancelled tomorrow Sun 24 due to weather conditions & dangerous surf

DANGEROUS SURF ADVISORY: GENERAL WARNING

Due to the eact coast low which developed off Northern NSW and has now moved south along the NSW coast, thus creating dangerous surf conditions over the next few days. An Easterly/South Easterly swell of up to 6m is expected with 40-60km/h S-SE winds are also forecast, extending through until Sunday morning. Heavy scattered showers have already hit the Illawarra region and with all of this making conditions poor for coastal activities. Bulli Nippers for this Sunday 24 February has been cancelled.

Branch Championships - Thankyou

Thank you to all our members that assisted with the successful running of the 2013 Junior and Senior Illawarra Branch Championships hosted by Bulli over the past two weekends.

On both these days, our members worked tirelessly from 5.30am fulfilling duties such as as arena setup and pull down, IRB personnel, water safety, patrol members, work party, BBQ helpers/drink sales, parking attendants, officials meal organisers, carnival officials, cup cake sellers and the list goes on....too many to name individually.

It really was an outstanding display of a club working together as ONE! and each and everyone of you should be very proud of making the event the success it was.

On the competition front, we had kids from U8s through to our over 50s masters race in individual and team events and did the club proud.  Too many results to name in the email.  Results will be recorded in the annual report at the end of the season.  Our nippers finished 2nd and Seniors 1st with the club winning the overall pointscore for the 8th consecutive season.  Every athlete contributed to this great result and their sportsmanship was clearly to the forefront.

Building Fund Raffle winners

Thank you to everybody that supported our Bulli Surf Life Saving Building Fund Raffle drawn on Sunday night after the Senior Branch Championships. All proceeds will go towards our proposed building extensions for the future development of our members needs.

1st Prize won by Tim Gordon ticket number 9549

EnVie Fitness Training Program (12 months indoor & outdoor) plus range of Bulli Surf Life Saving 100th year clothing

Total Prize valued at $1,500 2nd Prize won by Jim Brownlee ticket number 8577

Balgownie World Travel voucher and Australian Distillery Company 151 Vodka & Gun Alley Whiskey -

Total Prize valued at $700

3rd Prize won by Karen Lie ticket number 6854

Carlton United Breweries Pack & Garry Birdsall Surfing in the 70’s Limited Edition Print

Total Prize valued at $300 

Branch Championships - helpers required

What a great success last Saturday was with the club hosting the Junior Illawarra Branch Surf Life Saving Championships, thank you to all our volunteers that helped in the preparations and on the day.

And now, we do it all again, this Sunday 17 February for Senior Branch Championships at Bulli Beach.

We require:

1.  Parking attendants 6.30am to 9am...Surf Club and Shamrocks.

2.  Drink sellers 8am to 12noon  12noon to finish approx 4pm

3.  Carnival arena and tent setup 5.30am to 8am

4.  Working party from 8am...  boat and main carnival area.... on standby during the carnival to assist on beach with any arena changes

5.  Food helpers... packing and distributing food to officials etc  from 9am to 3pm

6.  Carnival arena and tent take down at end of carnival approx 4pm

7.  Extra Patrol members 8.30 to 12 noon and 12noon to finish approx 4pm

8.  IRB Drivers and Crew.

Helpers to wear club attire, if possible.  We do have some Bulli workparty shirts available.

If you are a qualified patrol member, please wear full patrol gear.

Thank you to the members that have already committed to help on Sunday.

Please reply asap to mkcaldwell@bigpond.com if you can give some time on Sunday.

Building Fund Raffle to be drawn this Sunday Night

The 'Building Fund Raffle' which was to be drawn last night is now being drawn at Bulli Workers Club this Sunday night (7pm) after the Senior Branch Championships at Bulli Beach.

If members still have tickets & cash to return you can do one of the following;

1. See Keith Caldwell at the beach on Thursday & Friday afternoons this week from 5pm-7pm

2. Drop them off to 114 Farrell Road Bulli (Barry & Denise Adams) up until Saturday

3. Bring tickets to the beach this Sunday

4. Bring them to the Bulli Workers Club Sunday night prior to 7pm.  

Bulli Men's A crew claim ASRL title

BULLI’S A Men's crew dominated to take home the main event at the Australian Surf Rowers League Australian Open at Stockton Beach on Sunday.

In the best conditions of the three-day carnival, the Australian Open wrapped up with tight racing across finals of the open and under-23 men and women as well as reserve and under-19 men’s divisions.

A one-metre swell, a 15-knot easterly breeze and bright sunshine set the scene for the action on the final day, as competitors faced a challenging offshore sand bank 100metres from the start.

In the six-boat, 400-metre A men’s final, Bulli converted a boat-length lead at the turn into a comfortable win racing away from Palm Beach & Bateman's Bay to claim the Australian Surf Rowers League (ASRL) title. Well done to Paul Jones, Dean Roberts, Heath Mercer, Ben Lowe & Dan Porra.

Our U23 Women known as 'The Big Rigs' raced unreal to place 2nd in their division. Well done to Shane Geloven, Sheree Gallagher, Olivia Krowka, Elizabeth Walker & Kelsey Clements.

Our U19 Men during the course of the 3 day carnival raced for NSW in the interstate series and came away a close 2nd. Good effort boys Shane Geloven, Iszak Lunney, Kyle Mercer, Albert Smeaton & Tobias Allnutt. 

Nippers start back this Sunday

Nipper return back this Sunday at 9.30am with the 3rd round of the club point-score. Welcome back to everyone after the long holiday break. We hope everyone had a great Xmas and happy New Year to all. 

Some other dates to put in your calender are

Saturday 2nd February- Illawarra Junior carnival at Thirroul ($10 entry fee)

Sunday 3rd February- 4th Round Club Pointscore 9.30am start

Saturday 9th February- Illawarra Junior Branch at Bulli ($10 entry fee)

Sunday 10th February - 9.30am Nippers

Sunday 17th February- Illawarra Senior branch at Bulli (NO NIPPERS ON THIS DAY)

Sunday 24th February- Final Round Club Pointscore 9.30am start

Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd March- SLSNSW State Age Champs at Ocean Beach Umina ($30 entry fee)

For those entering in the above carnivals, money must be paid this Sunday prior to nippers. (Cash/cheque only).

As a condition of entry at least 1 parent from each family will be required to assist in a role of either Water Safety, Official, or Age Manager, or work party assistance. For further information about carnivals please see Leanne Taylor (competition secretary) on Sunday.

Regards

Brent Mckellar

Junior Chairperson

Members shine for State Team

Well done to Hannah Minogue, Jamie Brinkworth & Abbey Dawson who were part of the sucessful NSW team at the Inter-State Championships held last Monday & Tuesday at Homebush Aquactic Centre & Newport Beach. The NSW camp went into camp straight after the Manly carnival & it really showed with a strong team spirit evident right from the start of competition.

Abbey performed great in the pool rescue component with some strong showings helping NSW lead after the first day by 20 points. NSW then continued on it's way at the beach with Jamie & Hannah performing strongly to keep the points ticking over for NSW in team events to eventually run out winners by 42.5points in the end.

Lachlan O'Grady & Kiah Taylor also raced strongly as draft picks for Tasmania, with Lachlan placing 2nd in the Open Male Surf Race.

Congratulations to Abbey Dawson on gaining selection in a Junior National Royal Life Saving Society Team after swimming well at their National Pool Rescue Championships last weekend also.  

Boaties travelling good

After a very successful final round of the Navy sponsored NSW Surf Boat Series at Manly beach last weekend (19/20 Jan), our U19 Junior Mens Boat Crew have been selected to represent NSW at the upcoming Australian Surf Rowers League Champion ships at Stockton Beach over the weekend of 8/9/10 February.  The NSW team has been selected based on accumulative point score system involving 3 rounds of the series all of which attract either single, double or triple points.   Our u19’s were winners in round 1 (double points @ Mollymook in November), round 2 (single points @ North Cronulla in December) and their 2^nd place in round 3 (triple points @ Manly) was more than enough to secure their position as the NSW rep crew in their division as well as be crowned series winners.

Crews were selected in all 6 divisions (Open Men and Women, u23 Men and Women, reserve grade and u19).    For the first time, SLSNSW have combined with the Australian Surf Rowers League (ASRL) and decided to separate the boats from the traditional interstate series.  This is a win for surfboats as previously only certain divisions were up for selection under the old format.   The interstate has been integrated into the ASRL Open Championships and will run on Saturday 9^th February.  The u19’s will race against other State rep crews and the interstate relay.  A thoroughly deserved selection and we wish the boys the best of luck.    

Our other crews faired very well in the overall series:  Open Men finished  3^rd (round 1 – semis; round 2 – 1^st; round 3 – 2^nd); U23 Men were 4^th (round 1 – 6^th, round 2 -1^st, round 3 – 3^rd) and U23 Women Gold came 5^th (round 1 – 2^nd, round 2 – 3^rd, round 3 – DNS). 

This Sunday @ North Wollongong our Open Mens crew have been invited to compete in a National team selection event.   A joint initiative between SLSA, SLSNZ and the ASRL has resulted in an annual Test Match Event with full Coat of Arms status to be contested in both Open Men and Open Women year about in both countries.  Starting this season, the selection event will bring together the best crews from across the nation.   Each crew will race off in a round robin format with leading pointscorers (top 4 crews) to row off in a final race for the coveted spot.   The test match will occur in NZ (Bay of Plenty – Waihi Beach) on the weekend of 9^th and 10^th February.   The Open Men are well on the pace and have put themselves into a very competitive position to be one of the top contenders.  Good luck Fellas!”

Manly Surf Carnival & Inter-State this weekend

This weekend is another busy weekend for our surf sports athletes with the Manly Surf Carnival happening over 2 days, with boats on Saturday (ASRL Series) & if lucky enough qualifying for finals day on the Sunday. Senior beach surf craft is on the Saturday & Nippers on the Sunday......early starts all days so good luck to all of our members racing.

The club wishes our State reps all the best for the Inter-State Championships which are being held at Homebush Aquactic Centre for pool rescue events (Monday) & Newport for surf & beach events (Tuesday).

Hannah Minogue (Open Female), Jamie Brinkworth (U19 Female) & Abbey Dawson (U15 Female) have been selected and will represent NSW and Lachlan O'Grady (U19 Male but will be competing in Open's) plus Kiah Taylor (U15) have also been drafted into the Tasmanian team.

Wanda Inter-Cities results

A young senior surf/craft (12 athletes) competed at Inter-Cities last weekend at Wanda.

Some great results as seen below;

1st U15 Male 2km Beach Run - Max Stapley

1st U15 Female Surf Teams - Kiah Taylor, Malin Taylor, Bryar Lunney & Denver Richards

1st U15 Female Cameron Relay - Bryar Lunney, Denver Richards, Mali Taylor & Kiah Taylor

1st U19 Male Taplin Relay - Lachlan O'Grady, Beau Wheeler & Joshua Bond

1st U19 Female Ski - Jamie Brinkworth

2nd U19 Female Board - Jamie Brinkworth

2nd U19 Male Board Relay - Joshua Bond, Brad Nees & Calvin Richards

2nd U19 Male Board - Beau Wheeler

2nd U17 Male Ski - Lachlan O'Grady

3rd U19 Male Surf - Beau Wheeler

3rd U17 Female Ski - Bridgette Lockhart

3rd U17 Iron-person - Emma Brown

3rd U17 Female Surf - Emma Brown

3rd U17 Male Surf - Brad Nees

3rd U17 Female Taplin - Emma Brown, Bridgette Lockhart & Morgan Richards

3rd U15 Female Board Relay - Denver Richards, Kiah Taylor & Mali Taylor

Well done to everybody including parents who looked after the kids during the course of the day. 

Ocean Thunder - 4th in the final!

The "Calvin Petrol Station & Mint Car Wash" Men's A Crew of Paul Jones, Dean Roberts, Heath Mercer, Ben Lowe & Dan Porra competed in the 3rd round of the Ocean Thunder Boat Series at Dee Why last Saturday (12 January).

In hot conditions with minimal assistance with the swell the crew performed outstandingly. In the 6 pointscore rounds the crew finished with 1 x 1st, 2 x 2nd & 3 x 3rd to finish 4th leading into the money rounds! They were there in every race leading a majority of the times only for crews to get a little bit of assistance in better alleys drawn.

The guys made it through to the final 6 which then turns into a double race, with one of the rowers (unlucky Dan...but apparently the only one who can run fast) having to run up the beach around a turning flag whilst the rowers & swep get the boat ready to race back out to sea for the second leg, quite gruelling and taxing on the body especially in the hot conditions, during the day a few light southerlys came through causing conditions to change when closer to the bouys out to sea.

4th place in the final & a long day at the office. Just beaten by Currimbin, Bateman's Bay & Manly. Well done to the guys they are rowing unreal & clearly on the pace with the best crews in the land.

Major Sponsor Rick Calvi from Calvi Petrol Station & Mint Car Wash came along for the morning & bought a box of mangoes, cherries & figs from his families petrol station. He was suitably impressed with the commitment of the guys & how good they raced during the day. Sweep Paul Jones even got him a gig with the beach commentator and the family business was given great exposure all day. 

Young Guns at Collaroy

The Collaroy International Young Guns Surfboat carnival was held last weekend; this carnival is for male surfboat rowers in the U/19’s & U/23’s divisions and female rowers in the U/23’s. Bulli were represented with one crew in each of the three divisions and displayed great surfboat speed throughout the day. With very flat conditions all day and very little wind, there was no room for error and all racing came down to boat speed.

With all crews qualifying through the three round, round robin formatt, the U/19s progressed straight through to the semi-final. The U/23 men and U/23 women contested the quarter-final with the women progressing to the semi. After a great row by the 23 men’s crew on a very uneven course and being eliminated, officials decide to run a repecharge round due to the uneven course which our boys won convincingly.

The 23 women’s campaign ended in the Semi-final after a “not so great start” but the crew showed great boat speed and proved they are definitely a threat this season and they would like to thank Allana Roscoe for filling in for them again this season. Both the boys crews qualified through the semi-final with a 1^st place from the 19’s and a 3^rd place from the 23’s to get a start in the final.

With ally two being the worst ally of the day, funny enough both Bulli crews drew…… ally two. The 23’s lead the final and turned first, to watch four crews skip away on runs on the return leg finishing in 5^th place. The crew would like to thank Curtis Allnutt for filling for this carnival who produced a huge effort over the 8 races on the day.  The U/19’s, being in the same ally as the 23’s had the same story; turning a very close second, again there were no runs in ally two, and they too watched other crews skip away on runs coming home. The boys dug deep to finish a very respectable 4^th.        

With the flat conditions and the best crews attending, this carnival did show that all three crews are up there with the best in each division. There is still work to be done, but we’re looking good heading into the business end of the season.

All the rowers would like to thank fellow members that assisted with patrol swaps on this particular Sunday. 

Big weekend for Surf Sports athletes this weekend!

Good luck to everybody racing this weekend in surf sports events;

Hannah Minogue is travelling to Victoria to race in Surf Iron-man Qualifying Series.

Men's A Boat Crew racing at Dee Why in Ocean Thunder, currently sitting in 7th position.

Senior Surf/Craft squad (4 masters athletes) racing on Friday night at the Cronulla Masters Carnival & (12 athletes) racing on Saturday at Inter-Cities at Wanda. 

U19 Men's, U23 Men's & U23 Women's crews racing on Sunday at Collaroy in the Young Guns Boat Carnival.