By Ron Lane
Last weekend at Pacific Palms in NSW, the surf carnival was called the Battle of the Boats, and for the Noosa Ladies Under 19 boat crew, they finished with their colours flying high.
At the end of two days of gut-wrenching rowing in flat surf, the girls finished the final in second place overall.
To finish second is incredible but when you consider that they are basically still a novice crew of 16-year-olds, and had just completed a program that saw them contest eleven races in two days, these results are worthy of note.
“One of the most pleasing aspects,” said Coach Mick Gardner, “is the respect that they are now receiving from other crews and remember, some of those are veterans and are amongst the best in Australia.”
The Saturday program saw them row in three events in the Under 19 Division. Then the coach entered them in the Opens which saw them contest another four races.
“The reason for this was purely experience; and it was indeed a great learning curve,” Gardner said.
This gave the16-year-olds a total of seven races for the day, another three on Sunday and on making the final it gave them one more, making it four for the day – a total of eleven races over two days.
However it was worth it as the Noosa girls finished in second place overall; and the girls who achieved this were Zoe McKill stroke, Sinead Hayes second stroke, Tayla Fox second bow and Zali Kerr bow.
For our mates at Sunshine Beach, it was another quiet weekend – still plenty of people, but quiet.
Their Nippers had their last weekend for the season, but what a year it has been.
Once again Sunshine Nippers have shown that in the area of competition, they are right up there with the best.
With their continued success over the years, it again shows that above all the club must have a coaching panel that is not only good but very progressive – to continue on their winning ways in the Nippers a really good parent support group is essential, all happy and working together.
Well done to all concerned, well done Sunshine Beach!
It is now some five years since the Noosa Seahorses Nippers, under the guidance of Steve and Nikki Mawby and Lorna Garden, first appeared on the scene.
Unfortunately last week we lost one of the original pioneers in David Glassock.
David passed away after a long illness, so to wife Jenny and family we are here for you, just a phone call away.
Good news from the Alexandra Headlands Seahorses; last weekend they had some 45 members in attendance; their hard work has paid off. This is good news well done to all.
In mid-March Noosa Seahorse representatives will travel to Bundaberg to help launch their program.
Also, down south at Coogee Beach, good things are happening. On Sunday 19 February, Noosa’s Lorna Garden attended the launch of an Inclusion Program jointly run by Coogee and Autism Swim. This is yet another program to help those with special needs.
When we receive positive results such as these it make us appreciate the incredible work that Steve, Nikki and Lorna and their support group did to get the whole thing started.
Well done to all; one of the truly great achievements in the history of the Noosa Heads SLSC.
