By Dave Gleeson
SUNSHINE BEACH NIPPERS
Last weekend saw the culmination of the Sunshine Coast competitive lifesaving season for the regions Under 11 – Under 13 Nippers with the two-day Sunshine Coast branch carnival (water events) held at Dicky Beach.
This event is not only the ‘Grand Final’ of Sunshine Coast competition but also the pathway to qualify for the Queensland State Titles which are being held in Hervey Bay in mid-February.
Sunshine Beach Nippers have traditionally been strong in these age groups however this year they stepped it up a notch from their usual high standards to dominate the field across team and individual events.
With Sunshine Beach being a small club (total 150 Nippers) coming up against large powerhouse clubs like Maroochydore, Dicky Beach, Alex Heads and Noosa (all with more than 500 Nippers) these results were even more impressive and Sunshine Beach finished the carnival in overall first position on 207 points, ahead of Kawana Waters (173), Maroochydore (168), Alex Headlands (96) and Met Caloundra (83).
The small but talented group from Sunshine achieved some remarkable results at this carnival, some which have not been seen before in Sunshine Coast history.
The record breaking achievement was a never before achieved ‘perfect score’ in the U13 Girls Teams Surf race – Sunshine Beach took out the gold medal with the ‘A team’ swimmers finishing 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the final (out of 32 swimmers).
From all accounts this has never been achieved by any club in any age group at Sunshine Coast Representative level before.
Other results included:
– U13 Girls – Gold in Cameron relay and Surf team, Silver in the Board Rescue and Board relay, Bronze in Surf team, Gold and Silver in Ironwoman, Gold and Bronze in Swim race, Silver medal in Board race.
– Under 13 Girls – The girls also had seven competitors in the top 11 finishers of the ironwoman final, continuing their domination of this age group in the most difficult event.
– Under 13 Boys – Silver medal in Board Relay and Bronze in Cameron team, Gold in Board race and qualified in surf team for State Title.
– Under 12 Boys – Silver medal in the Cameron team and Surf team and Bronze in Board Rescue team.
– Under 12 Boys – The boys won Gold medal in the Ironman and a Silver medal in the boys swim.
– Under 11 Boys – Gold medals in the Surf Team, Board Relay, Board Rescue, Silver in the Cameron team race and Bronze medal in Board Relay. Special mention to pocket rocket Brendan Otto winning Gold medals in the Under 11 individual Board, Swim and Ironman races taking out the individual trifecta of gold medals
– Under 11 Girls – Gold medal in the Cameron team event, Bronze medal in Board rescue and all teams qualifying to State titles. Silver in individual Swim and Bronze in Ironwoman finals.
Congratulations to the Sunshine Beach Nippers and all coaching staff for these outstanding results.
Sunshine Beach will be sending a youth team of approximately 50 competitors to the Queensland State titles on the weekend of 17-19 February.
