For the members of the Impact Boxing and Fitness Centre Cooroy, operating under owner and head coach Mark Evans, the months ahead are looking very busy. This Saturday night, Bryce “Hurricane” Hegarty will kick off his 2023 campaign en route to fighting for the Australasian and Australian titles later in the year. He will take on Connor Napier at the Croatian Club, Southport on the Gold Coast, hoping to continue his unbeaten streak.
This hopefully will be the first of many in the year ahead. ‘’We are in talks at present with various promoters as we try to map out our pathway to the top. We are close to finalising the deal to fight for the Queensland super middleweight title; the Australasian middleweight title is a done deal. We are just waiting for a date to be set and, at this stage, we are hoping it will be early May.’’
All going to plan if they can pick up those two titles, he will be the top contender for the Australian title. “The pathway is set and I am confident that with Bryce’s skills, determination and mindset, we will achieve these goals,” said coach Evans.
Keeping the weekend busy with boxing, Evans will fly to Cairns on Sunday morning to deliver a training camp to the northern boxing fraternity. Evans, the president of Boxing Queensland and the current Boxing Australia- BQ Future coach, will travel to Cairns to meet with coaches and athletes as he delivers a well-needed boxing training camp to the region.
‘’We are growing rapidly in the NQ region and it is important to let them know that they are definitely part of the bigger picture. Our aim is to support the north a lot more this year with training camps and competition. There is some great talent up here that often sadly, slips under the radar. Our aim at Boxing Queensland is to capture that talent and help develop it at grassroots level,’’ Evans said.
Weightlifting
The Youth Bush Turkey Cup Olympic weightlifting competing was held on Saturday 11 February at the Noosa Barbell Weightlifting Club at Crossfit 4566, Noosaville, . “Club Youth members got their opportunity to show all the hard work they had been putting in over the Christmas break.” said coach Woogie Marsh.
While it was only a small competition, the level of weightlifting was very exciting for the club’s youth, as some were competing for only their first or second competition. The events contested were the snatch and the clean and jerk. The contestants were Case Dowd, Eli Frew, Thomas Edwards, Cooper Ward and Joanne Phillips.
Case had a fantastic day, totalling 64 kg. Cooper Ward had a competition best of 107 kg totally smashing his previous best total by 15kg. Eli Frew not only dropped down two weight classes, but also hit a lift time personal best total 90 kg. Thomas Edwards also went well totalling 156 kg. This was very impressive, considering that he had only been lifting with the club for one year.
Jo Phillips had an easy day going 6 from 6 lifts to post a total to qualify her for the Masters Nationals later in the year. This set up an opportunity for Jo to mentor and coach the clubs masters in an upcoming Queensland club round: it’s where the clubs masters team will also be looking to qualify for the masters nationals.
A big thank-you was extended to all those members and club supporters who went along to see and meet the next breed coming through. It was especially gratifying to see the new families getting involved and volunteering to help run the day. Thank you to Deb Keelan and Scott Mark from Queensland Weightlifting for coming to help officiate the event.
The club extended a very warm thank-you to the club sponsors, The Chartists and Crossfit 4566, for their ongoing support. There are definitely exciting times ahead for the club. Once again, coach Woogie Marsh extended an invitation to anyone interested in joining the club. Just drop in at Crossfit 4566, 1/15Lionel Donovan Drive or search them on instagram@noosabarbellclub.
Outriggers
This week, paddlers from all over Queensland travelled to the Gold Coast for the Broadwater Bash. There was good competition with races over 4km and 8km, and the juniors racied over 500m, 1km and 2km. Noosa teams performed well in a series, which was a warm-up for the National Titles in Sydney Harbour on the weekend of 25 February.
Noosa women took out the Golden Masters Mixed Division over the long course, while in the men’s, the seniors took out the Overall and the Mixed Masters Unlimited and Platinum won their division. Good to see that the Juniors, coached by Felicity White also had a successful regatta.
While the club can be proud of their achievements on the water, on dry land they are creating an atmosphere of team work and friendship: thus, creating a sense of community. In the last 12 months they have experienced an influx of 49 new seniors and 25 juniors.
Under the stewardship of Chris Mitchell, these results speak for themselves. The future of the club is indeed looking good. ‘’Recently I attended a celebration honouring our oldest member, Hughie Bingham, who turned 90, and the feeling around the club was fantastic. Congratulations to Chris Mitchell and her team,” said club spokesman Colin Jones.
The Sydney Harbour Challenge is a big event on the Outrigger Calendar. Teams from all over the country converge on the Woollahra Yacht club on beautiful Rose Bay. It will be a big weekend with our crews competing against the best in the land: we wish them one and all, the very best. And remember you don’t have be an athlete to join the club. Their social club is among the best.
Lifesaving
Despite not being a spectator sport, the Queensland Surf Life Saving Rescue Championships is a vital but unheralded event. At their recent championships held at Alexandra Headlands, Noosa sent a small team: but with good results. In their major event, the Champion Lifesaver, Rosita Orteiga u/14 finished in third place and in the u/15 group, Erin McGarry was second.
The importance of this event, the Champion Lifesaver can be based on the fact that it is made up of all basic aspects of a lifesavers bronze training: the run-swim-run, rescue board, written test paper and resuscitation. Thus, the fact that this event gets little mention is a mystery.
As a part of the Surf Rescue Championships, first aid is also contested and in this, Noosa again, finished among the medals. In top event of the open section, Joseph Glassock and Jessie Lloyd-Stewart won gold. In the u/15 Kayla Lloyd- Stewart and Jessica Porta were second and Persephone Brennan-Kessel and Rose Golding third.
With an alarming increase in drownings on our beaches (outside the flagged area) in recent months, maintaining a high standard of resuscitation and first aid is still, and always will be, of the utmost importance: thus, carnivals such as the above must be continued and those competing should be encouraged.
