In the final Interstate discipline for 2016 the NSW Pool Rescue Team was unable to halt the Queensland juggernaut on the Gold Coast last weekend finishing the competition with the silver medal.

The hosts powered to victory with 474 points followed by NSW (372) while Western Australia (360) claimed third spot on the podium.



With the competition taking place on the first morning of The Australian Championships, the NSW members had to hit the pool running.



Lachlan Braddish got the NSW side off to a flying start finishing first in the U14 Men’s 200 Metre Obstacle Swim, while Rachel Wood (U17s) and Bradley Woodward (19s) also claiming first place in their divisions.



NSW Coach Andrew Bowden said that while it was disappointing to not claim the overall title, the future of Pool Racing in NSW is in good hands.



“It was a really enjoyable competition and while it was obviously not the result we were after everyone still had an enjoyable time,” Mr Bowden said.


“I think in many ways it was a challenging competition for us especially for our older athletes as there training has been focusing on The Worlds and they probably haven’t been able to get into the pool as much as they would have liked.

“From a coaching perspective it was really impressive to see how our younger competitors handled the competition. All of them swum personal bests and really rose to the occasion of racing the best in Australia. I think their futures look very bright,” he concluded.



The 2016 Australian Pool Rescue Championships were held immediately following Interstate, and for many of the athletes was their last event of the winter before they hit the beach for their next summer season.



Over 100 competitors from clubs across NSW made the trek north. Queensland clubs dominated finishing in the top three on the overall standings and by hosting rights were able to field huge teams. But to their credit the NSW athletes weren’t overawed with Umina the best placed southern club in fourth position.



Terrigal performed strongly particularly in the U11 and U12 Women’s events, while Cudgen Headland, Wanda, and Elouera also had successful weekends.



2016 NSW Pool Rescue Interstate Team:



Madeleine Bakker - Warilla-Barrack Point

Lachlan Braddish – Umina

Keelan Bridge - Bronte

Joshua Brown - Lennox Head-Alstonville (Bronze of Origin)

Finn Flaherty - Avoca Beach SLSC

Ethan Garland - North Cronulla

Jett Garland - North Cronulla

Ela Heiniger - Byron Bay (Bronze of Origin)

Blake Hessel - Shelly Beach

Kaylah Holmes – Umina

Rachelle King (Captain) - Terrigal (Bronze of Origin)

Callum Lowe-Griffiths - Queenscliff

Georgia Miller - Newport

Timothy Schofield (Captain) – Terrigal

Jemma Smith - Umina

Brittany Stoker - Wanda

Kiera Warn - Wanda

Anthea Warne - Cudgen Headland

Rachel Wood - Umina

Bradley Woodward - Shelly Beach



Head Coach: Andrew Bowden (Bronte)

Team Manager: Max Gonzalez (Bronte)



 



Tuesday 9 August 2016