By Omar Bakhach
LAST Saturday, 21 junior beach sprint competitors from Noosa SLSC beach squad travelled to Mooloolaba to compete against some of the best in Queensland for Round 2 of ‘The Fastest Man on Sand’ (FMOS) competition.
After a very successful Round 1 at Kurrawa Beach on the Gold Coast two weeks earlier, the team stamped their authority on the competition at Mooloolaba coming away with seven gold medals, one silver medal, and four bronze medals.
Each of the competitors, who range in age from Under 11 to Under 14, put their training into practice in their respective individual and team events to make a sound statement to other junior beach teams competing on the day.
Noosa Beach coach Omar Bakhach said: “All members of the squad performed outstandingly, and with such great results it is difficult to single out any individuals, however a special mention must go to Under 13 girl Amy Kibble and Under 14 boy Kai Thompson.”
By the end of competition, Kibble had secured three gold medals – one each in the beach sprint, beach flags and Under 13 female relay, as well as a bronze in the All Age relay, while Thompson took two individual gold medals in flags and sprints and a bronze in the All Age relay.
Both Kibble and Thompson’s performances further reinforced their recent selection in the Sunshine Coast representative team to compete at the Queensland Inter-branch carnival being held at Tweed Heads/Coolangatta in coming weeks.
“It is important to me that while individuals need to challenge themselves to do their best, they also need to enjoy competing,” Bakhach said.
“Our Under 11 and Under 12 competitors also had awesome results on the day, with young Mia Jeffries taking her first individual silver medal in the beach flags.
“If the performances of the rest of the crew are anything to go by, the Noosa junior beach squad has a very bright future,” he said.
The squad will be travelling to the Gold Coast in a few weeks’ time to compete in the third and final round of the series.
