History was made and legacies cemented on Miami Beach at the 2024 Sharkskin Australian Inflatable Rescue Boat Championships as both Caves Beach SLSC and Kiama Downs SLSC capped their racing season with overall point score victories in the U23s on Friday 19 July and the Masters on Saturday 20 July, respectively.
The former, dominant more-or-less from start to finish in the heart of the Gold Coast, became the first non-Queensland based club to raise the U23 Australian Championship trophy in the history of the event.
Consistency was key for the Hunter club – Caves Beach managed podiums aplenty and took points from every race they contested on the way to a total score of 39, nearly twice that of eventual runners up Kurrawa SLSC and Kirra SLSC who both finished on 21.
“It’s surreal. Honestly, there’s a lot of hours a lot of preparation that goes into winning something as special as this,” Caves Beach driver, Flynn Wallace-Smith said.
“At our club there’s a lot of young talent coming through, but this result is more based on the effort and time we all put into training.”
Meanwhile, a storybook swansong for Kiama Downs legend, Steve Strong was confirmed on Saturday when his club took out the Masters title on his final day of IRB racing.
Strong’s impressive 40-year career was capped by gold and silver in the Male Teams Rescue and Male Surf Rescue – two of six medals all up for the South Coast club who would go on to top the point score with 38.
“To retire on a win like this, you can’t script it,” he said.
“People dream about it and I’m very lucky.
“I’m just over the moon.”
Kiama Downs finished 11 points ahead of Queensland powerhouse club, Broadbeach SLSC and Alexandra Headland SLSC rounded out the top three.
“There are only two clubs on the trophy, us and Broadbeach,” Strong continued.
“We’ve had a bit of a battle for the last couple of years, we won it, then they held on to it for a few years.
“But it’s nice to get it back, that’s pretty special.”
Earlier in the week, the Interstate Championships was run and won with NSW finishing third on countback behind winners, Queensland and runners up, Victoria.
Tuesday 23 July 2024