The thrills, spills and victories of the 2011 NSW Surf Life Saving Championships have wrapped up after almost two weeks of junior and senior competition at Kingscliff.
Manly ended up on top of the overall pointscore, with Cronulla in second and Wanda third. Byron Bay was the top performing far-north coast club, in 13th place. The host club ended up a respectable 16th place.
The event was a huge success and went off without any major glitches due to the hard work of Tweed Shire Council, Cudgen Headland SLSC, and the many volunteers and officials who generously gave up their time to make the carnival run smoothly.
The State’s leading surf lifesavers and surf sports athletes tested their skills at the annual competition which attracted crowds of up to 10,000 spectators wanting to see competitors fight it out for glory in the water and on the beach.
More than 6000 individual competitors from more than 100 clubs took part in the Championships over the two weekends in events ranging from the gruelling ironperson and surf boat races to the Taplin relay and beach events.
“It’s great to see the surf life-saving movement attracting so much interest from the community. The event is one of the biggest of its kind in Australia,” said CEO of Surf Life Saving NSW, Phil Vanny.
“Thanks to our supporters Allphones and the Tweed Shire Council. The NSW Championships are key to developing the rescue and safety skills of the State’s surf lifesavers.”
The event was a great showcase for the Tweed region and its many attraction and competitors and their families, to the Juniors’ weekend who, by all accounts, enjoyed themselves very much.
Unfortunately the weather deteriorated for the opens event and finals day on the Sunday, in particular, were pretty miserable. Despite the torrential rain, the competitors took to their racing in the true spirit of competition.
The thousands of visitors to the Tweed region delivered a boost to the local economy in the order of $18 million. Many local businesses reported roaring trade and the Cudgen Headland SLSC made a motza on its BBQ, which it ran throughout the carnival.
The Championships will be back at Kingscliff next year from March 2-4 for the Junior Championships and March 8-11 for the Open and Masters Championships.
