Aussies 2024

North Steyne Claim 2 x Gold, 1 x Silver and 1 x Bronze at Aussies 2024

The surf sports season for the year has finally concluded with the final carnival of the season ‘Aussies’ up on the Sunshine Coast with the events split across Maroochydore, Mooloolaba, Alexandra Headland and Coolumn. It was great to have representation of NS across water, beach, lifesaving, boats and also surfing over the course of the competition across Youth, Open and Masters. The sun was shining and the surf was big!

Lifesaving Team

Our Lifesaving team competed over the course of 3 days with our experienced masters and open Champion Lifesavers, Shannon, Deb, Sarah and Jack pulling on the club cap on the first day along with Open First Aid team The Penguins, Kyra and Lachie. The first day had some fantastic results with Gold for Shannon & Bronze for Sarah in Champion Lifesaver and a very impressive 5th for the Open First Aid Team. Overall, this year has seen some of our strongest results in Lifesaving at a national level across all age groups. I also want to give special mention to Clare and Florence who were our number one supporters across the two days and with Florence only 6 weeks of age. Shannon on behalf of the lifesaving team, I want to thank you for accommodating competing this season as you have both adjusted to parenthood. Also how fabulous Clare claiming gold in R&R under Freshwater.

For the first time in 10 years, we had the U17 and Open Patrol Competition Team both competing alongside each other at Aussies. This is an amazing achievement and we could not be more proud of our U17 competing at a national level, in particular as it is a qualifying event. For those not familiar with Patrol Comp it is a team event with a mix of physical, theory and a mini scenario that tests how the patrol team manage and deal with the multiple different things happening during it. It is then marked out of a total of 120 points. Our open team did exceptional in the lifesaver relay with Deb showing off her experience to master the board rescue securing 5 important points for the team. A caveat here is that Deb is at least 25 years older than the other competitors in the other teams, which is a HUGE achievement in itself and we are always so proud of having Deb as our Patrol Captain in this event. Our U17 had some significant improvements since their performance at State and finished 5th overall. On day 3 of lifesaving we had Leo Gibbenson compete in U15 for Champion Lifesaver where he finished up in 8th place. A great first result for all of our Youth lifesaving Cohort, especially for their very first Aussies. Special thanks goes to Jodie for officiating over the course of 2 days as well Kieth who was spotted scrutineering across the whole competition to ensure we meet our official quota and also to the team who ended up being patients across the 3 days. It was a massive team effort.

Masters Team

For our Masters contingent we had a small team, but some great results on the beach with Caroline Yarnell claiming Gold in the 60-64 F 1km run and Shannon claiming silver in the 35-39 M 2km run. In the water, the surf was a challenge with Sarah making it through to the finals for the ski and board and the North Steyne Angels Board Rescue team of Sarah and Erin, just missed out on the final. We were also super proud to have Chris Haughton represent North Steyne in the 2km swim and the longboard surfing.

Surf Boats

We had two Masters Surf Boat crews row at Alex Headland this year, 240M Gold and 200M Black Swans. SPecial mention to the crew in the 240M Gold as many of these members re-attained their Bronze to be able to compete again in the boat. Special thanks to Peter Champan (Chapo) for his enthusiasm getting the old mates back in the boat and they had an amazing 3 rows finishing first each time. The cut was ruthless and they missed out on the final by one point. The Black Swans had amazing rows with first and seconds and finished 4th overall at Aussies. Some very challenging and unforgiving surf at Alex Headland for the Boats fortunately our crews were not in any carnage and special shout out to Mick Evans our sweep for the two crews. Of course the season would not be possible without Burgo being their coach / team manager. Well done to our Masters crews, it was fabulous to see the Black and Gold among the boats.

Special thanks to all our members who have supported us this season,including those who have covered patrols for us during competition, the education team who ensured we were all qualified and upskilled for the events, the amazing support crew and those who transported gear and boards. None of this is possible without the support from the club and its members.