RIPtIDE NEWPORT S NEW GENERATION ON SHOW AT AUSSIES While Newport coach Trent Herring thinks three successive Aussie open men s Taplin titles is not out of the club s reach at Scarborough Beach this month, he can t wait to see the new generation in action. We are sending some good quality teams to Perth in the opens, under 19s and under 17s, he said. But I can t wait to watch some of our under 14s and under 15s who will be competing at their first Aussies. It s going to be a great experience for them. Newport s big medal hopes in those two age groups are Joel Piper, Brandon Bartlem, Oscar Smith, Tyler Krenkels, Alex Lefevre, Jodie Louw, Analiese Melbourn and Analise Kibble. After being one of the stars at the NSW Age Championships, Joel Piper said he was highly excited about competing at his first National Youth Championships on April 14-15. I am really looking forward to them (titles) and taking on the top competitors from all the states, Joel said. Newport have some outstanding talent in the under 17s in Zach Morris, James Finn, Taylor Gabb, Emily Doyle, Jami Prowse and Maddie Louw. Olivia Heaton missed the NSW titles as she had an appendix operation just before the championships but she is going to Aussies. She ll do the individual board in the under 19s and team events, Herring said. Olivia did a lot of work throughout the winter and hopefully that will hold her in good stead for the titles. She could be down mentally a bit but she s a fierce competitor. While the water events didn t go ahead at Aussies last year, thus robbing Newport the opportunity of winning three male Taplin titles in a row, they get another crack in Perth to achieve the feat. The only change to their team from the NSW titles when they were runners up to Manly is that swimmer Ollie Signorini is back. Max Brooks, who was one of the two swimmers at Blacksmiths Beach, reverts to paddling the board with his brother Charlie being the other paddler. Jackson Borg, who won the NSW open surf title, is the other swimmer, with Mitchell Trim and Luke Morrison being the ski paddlers. It s a very tough event to win, Herring said. But the boys always tend to lift for this event. I think Manly will probably be favourites but Queensland clubs Alexandra Headland, Northcliffe, Currumbin and Surfers Paradise will field strong teams and one should never discount Redhead. Those guys can never be written off, he said. Pictures: Top: Joel Piper winning the under 14 ironman at the NSW titles; Below: Zach Morris in great form.
Some of Newport s young medal hopefuls. Top left: Alex Lefevre; Top right: Maddie Louw; Bottom left: Emily Doyle; Bottom right Brandon Bartlem.
LACHIE PROMOTED TO MANLY A TEAM IN BOARD RELAY He was an Aussie gold medal winner as a member of Manly s B board relay team 12 months ago on the Gold Coast. Now Lachie Bruce heads to Perth for this year s Australian titles at Scarborough Beach this month as a member of the A board relay team. Lachie has joined Stewart McLachlan and Harrison Stone and the trio head west as the current NSW champions. Lachie knuckled down to the challenge and has earned his spot, Manly coach Cam Coghlan said. Bruce has come through the Manly nippers. After the NSW titles at Blacksmiths Beach in Newcastle last month, McLachlan, who won the individual board final from his clubmate Stone, hinted that he might not be travelling to Perth. He s definitely going and he s revved up, Coghlan said. McLachlan, who has won three individual Aussie board titles, has always had a burning desire to win an open men s Taplin relay. He went close with Redhead but this will be his best chance with a very talented Sky Blues team. Manly went to last year s Aussies as NSW champions and they do so again, having finished ahead of Newport and Redhead at Blacksmiths. Unfortunately, they didn t get a chance to race at Aussies last year. SLSA cancelled the championships because of the Queensland storms. Some events had been held earlier in the week, including the board relay, won by Manly s B team. With Nathan Smith leaving Manly and returning to Wanda, Jay Furniss stepped into the Manly Taplin relay team as one of the two swimmers. I think we are just as strong as last year, Coghlan said. We ve got the first and second placegetters in the state board (McLachlan and Stone), the state ski champion (Sam Speer) and Kendrick (Louis) finished fourth in the state surf race. Kendrick was second in the ironman at state and Jay third in that event. Then there s our second ski paddler (Nick Dawe). Nick, Sam and Kendrick also won the ski relay at the NSW titles. I think we are in really good shape. Manly haven t won this event for a really long time and I know how much the boys want it. Obviously conditions will play a big part. Everyone has tapered off and ready. Pictures: Top: Lachie Bruce promoted to Manly A team in the board relay. Below: Lachie s partners Stewart McLachlan (left) and Harrison Stone.
BROADBEANS READY FOR THE AUSSIES Veteran sweep Don McManus was not overly worried when he couldn t do much work with his top women s crew, the North Narrabeen Broadbeans, in the early part of the season. Alice Clarke spent three months travelling through Central America and Aleisha Pollicina was also unavailable for some time as she went trekking in Nepal. Hayley Beckerleg, who rows second bow, said: I think we started to come good when we won at the Manly carnival (late January). The girls also rowed in the Ocean Thunder series to help build their fitness. They recently represented Sydney Northern Beaches Branch at the inaugural Interbranch Championships, which were moved from Collaroy to Fishermans Beach, and were the outstanding open women s crew. Now the Broadbeans are gearing themselves for an assault on the Aussies at Scarborough Beach in Perth this month. They are rowing really, really well, McManus said. You don t want to be on the money too early in the season. You want to reach your high point at the right time of the year and I think we have reached our high point now. I believe they have a title in them, that s for sure. They are hungry enough and rowing well enough. Providing nothing goes wrong and they have reasonable draws, I think they can do the job. McManus reckons the big challenges will come from another local crew Palm Beach Patriots, North Cronulla and Lorne. There s always a darkhorse in the west, someone we just don t know about and, of course, there will be a couple of good crews from Queensland, he said. Pictures: The Broadbeans Hayley Beckerleg (left), Alice Clarke, Don McManus, Aleisha Pollicina and Laini Collyer; Below: the crew racing for SNB at Fishermans Beach in the Interbranch Championships.
PALMY PEAS PROUD OF ACHIEVEMENTS Palm Beach Peas rower Jacqui Morbey described competing for Sydney Northern Beaches Branch at the Interbranch Surf Boat Championships as exhilarating. It was definitely loads of fun and a really great honour, Jacqui said. The Peas started racing at Collaroy first but there was a fair bit of carnage. They won their first race in the under 23 female division before SLSNSW officials decided it was too risky to continue to run the event there and it was moved around the corner to Fishermans Beach. It was certainly tough at the beginning at Collaroy, Jacqui said. The Peas had two minor placings at Fishermans and finished second overall in the female under 23s. The competition was pretty strong against North Cronulla (Sydney Branch) and Avoca (Central Coast), Jacqui said. It was really great experience. The Peas only came together as a crew this season and have shown a lot of consistency. We re off to the Aussies and are really looking forward to it, said Jacqui. And we are really going to enjoy Mad Monday. That s for sure. Peas sweep Nick Wiadrowski also swept the open men s crew, the Pidgeons, at Interbranch. The Pidgeons were up against some quality crews, including the powerful Bulli (Illawarra Branch). Pictures: Top: Representatives of the Sydney Northern Beaches Branch team. The team finished a close second to Sydney Branch; Below: The Palm Beach Peas Jacqui Morbey, Alex Cropley, Kate Hundleby and Anna Jackman at Fishermans Beach.
QUEENSIE BOYS TEST FITNESS AT FISHERMANS The Queenscliff 10 Dollar Steaks certainly put in a super effort when they represented Sydney Northern Beaches Branch at the Interbranch Surf Boat Championships late last month. Apart from competing in their under 19 division, the boys also had two races in the under 23s and anchored the boat relay, which SNB won in convincing fashion. SNB finished second to Sydney Branch in the inaugural event, just three points behind the winners. Sydney Branch finished on 99 points, from SNB (96), Illawarra (89) and Central Coast (87). SNB Boat Panel Chairman Nick Sampson said: It was an extremely close and tight day of racing. Our crews did the Branch very proud. Injuries and last minute commitments saw the young Steaks crew take the place of the Palm Beach Paperclips in the under 23s. The Paperclips had taken honours over Bulli in their first race at Fishermans Beach after the championships were moved from Collaroy. The Steaks filled in for the Palmy boys in the remaining two races in under 23s. It was tough, Zac Lai said. The under 23 crews were so much faster. We knew we had to race straight after our (under 19 races), so it was mentally a lot harder. The Steaks finished second overall in the under 19s. We weren t happy with how we rowed in the first two races (second both times) but we won the last race and were really happy with that, Zac said. We were pretty tired but on the day the Avoca boys rowed really well and congratulations to them. The Queensie boys were elated when they anchored the boat relay team to victory. Zac said that he, Richard Ledger, Nic Lesiuk and Xavier Allen-Cox were really looking forward to their first Aussies. Queensie s older crew the Mudguts, competing in the reserves, certainly didn t let the Branch down. They won all three races. Nick Sampson thanks Suncorp Bank for their generosity in sponsoring the team kits. I d also like to thank Norm Pounder for doing a great job as the team manager, Nick said. Pictures: Top left: Queenscliff sweep Damien Daley; Top right: Zac Lai, Richard Ledger, Xavier Allen-Cox and Nic Lesiuk; Below: The Steaks in action at Fishermans Beach. Photos: Sydney Northern Beaches boat crews and officials at the Interbranch Championships. Dangerous conditions at Collaroy saw the event moved to Fishermans Beach. Sydney Branch won the inaugural event by just three points from SNB.