By RON LANE
FOR the Noosa Heads Surf Life Saving Club, the 2016 National Championships held at Maroochydore were without a doubt their most successful in the club’s history.
They finished the program with a total of four gold, five silver and eight bronze medals, and the most pleasing aspect has been that the medals were won in all disciplines contested – swim, beach, craft, iron persons, first aid and surf board riding.
On Sunday afternoon the final and most prestigious four events on the calendar where conducted – the open men’s ironman and the open women’s iron woman finals – plus blue ribbon team events, the Open Ladies’ and the Open Men’s Taplin Relays.
For the first time in Noosa’s competition history the club was represented in all these events.
This was, in the words of Noosa’s surf sports director Peter French: “A really outstanding achievement – definitely our best results ever.”
In the Taplin events, an event started by the Americans in 1936, the ladies’ team consists of three contestants and the men’s six. The event has three disciplines, swim, board and ski – with the ladies contesting each discipline once and the mens twice.
When you compete in these events you know that you are automatically up against the finest competitors in the land. Therefore it is every club’s dream to make these finals. Apart from winning a medal the mere fact that your club is on the starter’s line adds massive amounts of prestige to the club’s competitive reputation.
So it was that on Sunday in the final results, the ladies Taplin won the silver medal and the men finished in 11th place.
To witness the celebrations as the two teams came together at the completion of the program, made one realise that they fully understood what the announcer said when he told the thousands packed onto the beach, “Well done to the Noosa club. This is the first time they have made these final at the National Titles in this prestigious event; and they have done it in both the women’s and the men’s.”
However the bar had been set high earlier when Jordan Mercer, Grace Kahua and Sharlene Kelly became the first to ever win a gold medal in open division for Noosa. But this was not all, as just two hours prior on the beach at Alexandria Headlands, Noosa’s under-23s boat crew had capped off a brilliant season by winning, for only second time in their club’s 67 years of boat competition, a medal in the finals at the National Titles. It was the silver and justly deserved.
At the recent state titles they won the gold and when rowing for Queensland in the Interstate Carnival they again won silver. It was another outstanding event.
The structures of these Taplin teams also are a good indication that Noosa is achieving one of its major goals of creating a family feeling within the club. The structure tells us that in the case of the Taplins, three families – the Burrows the Williams and the Rogers – supplied six of the nine members who made up the teams; and when we look closer it is interesting to note that the majority of medals have come from the youth the under-19, under-17 and under-15; in particular team events.
In his debriefing, head coach Darren Mercer made special mention of the parents.
“You have contributed so much and this has helped to create a truly great feeling throughout the club.’’
Another who deserves mention was Bruce Warren, team manager who on the first day started at 4.15am, setting up club tents, and finished his other duties at 6pm.
Also, a silver medal in under-17 first aid has helped keep alive an event that is also becoming something of a tradition. When we take into consideration the increase in spinal injuries the importance of first aid is certainly on the increase.
The Sunshine Beach club sent a small team of 10 contestants coming home with one medal, a bronze for the boys’ under-19 board relay.
“Small team,” said Warrick Redwood. “But they performed well, making finals on the Sunday program.”
Small team but big hearts – well done.
