By Ron Lane
When lifesavers from all over Australia gather to contest their National Titles (events that cover all aspects of their work) there are always performances that can only be described as truly outstanding. For this years 2018/19 titles held at Broadbeach and Kirra, such a performance came from two young members of the Noosa Heads Surf Life Saving First Aid team, Lara Porter and Lilly Tindal.
Not only did these two young ladies contest their age group the u/17s, but they also contested the u/19s and the opens. In doing so they won the gold in both the 17s and 19s and silver in the opens; a feat never before achieved. In a lead up to the National Titles Lara and Lilly competed in the same three divisions at both the Branch and State Titles and astounded officials by winning the Gold Medal in all three at both. Then in the u/15 category Joe Glassock and Gilly Goulding of Noosa won the gold.
For many seasons the First Aid competition has virtually gone unheralded (definitely not a blue ribbon event) but with the ever increasing crowds flocking to our beaches, accidents requiring lifesavers attention, is definitely on the increase: therefore the intensive first aid training that our young clubbies undergo is now of the utmost importance. And the only way they achieve such high standards is to come under the guidance of the Noosa Coach Lenore Grice and her team of instructors. To this team we say well done. Other juniors to perform well were Finella Gibbs-Beal winning gold in the ocean swim and Amy Kibbles silver in the beach flags.
In the open section Lana Rogers added another gold medal to her tally when she won the prestigious Female Open Belt race and Nick Sloman won the open surf race and the 2km open swim; and in the ladies 2km open surf Kareen Lee of Noosa won silver, Jordan Mercer won the bronze in the ladies open ski.To finish off for the ladies in the u/19s.Electra Outram won the gold on the single ski.
Again the Masters made a great contribution in particular the ladies and in the board riding Noosa, with thanks to Christy Quirk and silver medalist Jack Lewis they are starting to move. For the boat section the massive surf made each race lotto and for Noosa it just was not their carnival.
Sunshine Beach performed well and once again their young members were amongst the medals. In the u/15s male champion life saver Thomas Auty won gold and the female surf team won silver; followed by Freya Wilson bronze in the surf race and again in champion lifesaver Lily Gooderham won a silver. And in the u/17 Amelia Rose won bronze.On the single ski u/17 Maxie Moore won the bronze and Ruby Nolan kept up her successes with a bronze in the surf race.In the masters division Allison Johnstone continued the club dominance in the champion life saver by winning the bronze.
In the masters swim section Jason “Super” Hooper won the 2km ocean swim and Clare Derrington won silver in the surf race.
Once again Sunshine Beach has shown that with the facilities available, a big open beach and big ever changing surf conditions, plus a team of top surf swim coaches, they have the ingredients to produce the best surf teams in the country. The silver medal won by their u/15 female surf team at the titles in tough surf conditions, plus the performance of champion lifesaver competitors is living proof that the above is achievable. Good luck to all
