Aussies - Good Luck
All flights lead to Western Australia this week for the 2014 Australian Surf Life Saving Championships to be held at Scarborough Beach starting yesterday with Masters events.
The Aussies, organised by Surf Life Saving Australia, is the largest event of its kind in the world - in the same magnitude as the Commonwealth Games.
Over the seven days, 5,000 competitors will chase prized Aussies medals on the beach and in the ocean with craft, boats, swimming, rescue and lifesaving events that hone the skills and ability of our surf lifesavers to protect the community, and ensure they are rescue ready.
Visit the event website at www.sls.com.au/aussies
Look for live results throughout the event here.
View images from today at http://sls.com.au/aussies/media/day1masters
Or check out our surf club face-book page on our website
Leading our charge first up today will be Nathan Cattell in the Masters 35-39yrs 2km beach run, he has been training hard for this event and after a close 4th at State he is really pumped for a good result.
After that competition will start on Wednesday with majority of finals on this Sunday 6 April for all of our Open competitors, we have 5 boat crews, 12 surf/craft & 1 beach athlete gunning for glory.
Loking for some strong results in the boat section, with the Open Men's crew out to prove that winning the NSW Title was no fluke, they have been on fire lately, but this will be a massive test against the best in Australia. The U19 Men's crew will be out to rectify their disappointing error in the semi final at State when the gate-cans became a problem, causing them to miss a place in the final.
In the surf/craft section expect some strong performances from Hannah Minogue in the Open Female events, especially the ski after her 2nd placing at State behind Naomi Flood. She is also expected to do well in the iron-woman & board events. Bernadette Cardillo made the final of the Open Female Sprint at State and her training has been going well, so here's hoping for a spot in the final. Both Beau Wheeler & Mitchell Fagerstrom are up against the big boys in the Open Men's section, but have been performing strongly all year, so watch out for some strong performances from both of them. Michael Locke our Veteran ski paddler is only doing the Open Male Ski & Mixed Double Ski with Hannah Minogue and they are happy with where they are at, on the winning wave at State only to place 4th out of the 4 teams on the wave.
We also have a group of U19, U17 & U15 boys & girls who have trained hard all year and can't wait to see if that training will get them a semi-final, a final or even a poduim finish. Look out for Lachlan O'Grady, Daniel St George & Mali Taylor in the swim events, plus Josh Bond & Lachlan O'Grady in the U19 Double Ski. Tobias Lunney, Kiah Taylor, Emma Brown & Bryar Lunney are all hoping for some Saturday or Sunday action as well in finals.
To all of our younger competitors enjoy the experience, it would be the first time you would have raced in Western Australia.
Good luck to everybody racing at Aussies, many thanks to our powercraft people doing shifts to enable us to compete (our members namely Nathan Cattell, Dave O'Grady, Barry Lowe, Stuart Brown, Megan Gadd plus Mitchell Bath from Windang). Two new guys running the show, Stuart Brown (Team Manager) & Sean Taylor (Assistant Team Manager) who will supervise our area managers (Paul Jones, Lincoln Costello, Ingrid Cardillo, Scott Lunney, Leanne Taylor & Lisa O'Grady) during these championships.
Bulli members competing at Nationals;
Masters: Nathan Cattell
Open Male: Mitchell Fagerstrom, Beau Wheeler & Michael Locke
Open Female: Hannah Minogue & Bernadette Cardillo
U19 Male: Lachlan O'Grady & Joshua Bond
U17 Male: Daniel St George & Tobias Lunney
U17 Female: Kiah Taylor & Emma Brown
U15 Female: Mali Taylor & Bryar Lunney
Open Male Boat: Paul Jones, Dean Roberts, Heath Mercer, Ben Lowe & Dan Porra
Open Female Boat: Lincoln Costello, Megan Gadd, Vida Oakes, Olivia Krowka & Kate Kirkness
U23 Male Boat: Paul Jones, Damien Clark, Curtis Allnutt, Luke Shiels & Murray Wood
U23 Female Boat: Barry Lowe, Jordan Thurling, Kelsey Clements, Allana Roscoe & Bonnie Francom
U19 Male Boat: Shane Geloven, Albert Smeaton, Toby Allnutt, Iszak Lunney & Kyle Mercer
To all of our families, supporters heading over to WA we hope that you have an enjoyable experience in the west!