A bumper final day of the NSW Surf Life Saving Championships, proudly presented by Your local club, is in store after hundreds more athletes contested the Open and Surf Boat programs across six water areas and one beach track.
A slate full of team events met Open athletes, with several culminating in medals awarded and others pushing over to Sunday’s finals package.
Cudgen Headland SLSC’s Fletcher Burdekin, Jules Loemker and Phoenix Preston kicked their day off in style with an excellent win in the U17 Male Board Relay, while further down the beach their clubmates, Izzy Arghyros, Skye Campbell and Charli Mills won the U15 Female Board Relay.
In the Board Rescues, Australian Iron champion, Dan Collins and teammate, Isak Costello caused arguably the upset of the day in the Open Male race, finishing first ahead of Newport SLSC powerhouse team, Charlie Brooks and Conner Maggs.
Warilla Barrack Point SLSC’s Jayden Beaumont and Will Fowler denied Maggs a gold in the U19 Board Rescue as well, while Swansea Belmont SLSC’s Kaitlin Rees and Kaleah Kingston bagged the Hunter club another gold in the U17 Female category.
Newport dominated the Taplin Relay finals, winning both U19 categories as well as the U17 Female. The latter came after Charli Barbour went from second out of the water to first past the post with a strong run to beat a Swansea team of Rees, Kingston and Xanthe Calov.
The Ski Relays and Double Skis were all split between Newport and Swansea in a dominant day for the two clubs, while the Sydney Northern Beaches club had eighteen athletes on the podium with the A, B and C teams claiming all the medals on offer in the Open Mixed Taplin Relay.
On the beach, Nicholas Aivaliotas from Wollongong City was quickest down the track in the U17 Male Beach Sprint, while Noah Nakagawa from Wamberal SLSC and Annabel Penny from South Maroubra SLSC won the U19 Male and Female sprints.
Cronulla SLSC’s Open Female Beach Relay team of Ngaire Hadfield, Nicole Jones, Zara Lammers and Amy Watson beat strong teams out of South Maroubra and Wollongong City to the gold medal.
In the flags, Moruya SLSC’s NSW Junior Lifesaver of the Year and news anchor extraordinaire, Zara Hall won the U15 Female event, and Avoca Beach SLSC’s Finn Robertson won the U17 Male flags. The Open categories were won by South Maroubra’s Jake Lynch and North Cronulla’s Emily Rampoldi.
The final day of the 2025 NSW Surf Life Saving Championships, proudly presented by Your local club, will see the individual finals package streamed live of Facebook and Youtube.
Saturday 15 March 2025