KNG Trials

It was all smiles from BMD Northcliffe's Harriet Brown and Bonnie Hancock as they crossed the line together in first place in the final of the KNG Trial race yesterday. 

 After three gruelling 45 minute races held over the weekend in testing surf conditions, the result safely secured both girls a spot in the 2010/11 Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Ironwoman Series which kicks off in November. There were 10 spots up for grabs from yesterday's final with Terri Sullivan also gaining a spot in 10th place. Sheree Merryfull (12th), Casey Leo-Litzow (14th) and Tatum Lawler (15th) will have a nervous wait to see if they pick up one of the 6 wildcards up for grabs.

In the mens race, BMD Northcliffe's Cory Hill and Michael Booth had a great start and were equal leaders after the first ski leg but unfortunately were hit by a set going out in the second ski leg which allowed the rest of the field to catch them.

The selected trialists and wilcards will join automatic qualifiers from last year - Shannon Eckstein, Elizabeth Pluimers, Kristyl Smith and Courtney Hancock. Zane Holmes and Pierce Leonard have already picked up two of the male wildcards on offer after having operations on injuries during the off season. Dean Mercer and Caine Eckstein will also join the list of wishful wildcards.

Round 1 of the KNG Series will be held at Currumbin on the 21 November.

For more information on the 2010/11 series go to http://surfironmanseries.com/.

KELLOGG'S SERIES TRIAL DATES ANNOUNCED

The dates for the 2010.11 Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Series Trial have been announced. The trial will be held over two days at Tugun Beach.

Saturday 18 September & Sunday 19 September

At least 8 male and 8 female positions will be selected from the trial with a further 6 male and 6 female positions up as wildcards. If wildcards are not used, they will use the trial results to fill the remaining positions.

For more information including the trial format, click here.

2010 Australian Pool Rescue Championships

BMD Northcliffe Surf Club took out the overall pointscore at the recent Australian Pool Rescue Championships held in Melbourne on 5 & 6 June, 2010.

Impressive performances from Dev Lahey, Kristyl Smith, Elizabeth Pluimers and young guns Lachlan Feather and Jordan Harrison helped seal the unexpected victory with only a small team travelling down to Melbourne for the event.

Congratulations to all of our members who braved the cold of an outdoor pool in Melbourne in June!

For all of the results from the 2010 Australian Pool Rescue Championships click here.

Australian Representative Teams Annonuced

Congratulations to Shannon Eckstein and Kristyl Smith who have just been named in the Australian Team to compete in Alexandria, Egypt, at the World Surf Life Saving Championships to be held later this year. Shannon Eckstein has also been given the honour of captaining the team.

Notable exclusions from the Australian team were BMD Northcliffe's Dev Lahey and Elizabeth Pluimers who both performed very well at the recent Australian Pool Rescue Championships.

Other BMD Members that have been selected to compete for their countries at tRescue 2010 include Daniel Moodie & Kevin Morrison (New Zealand), Flora Manciet, Jon Desperges and Julien Lalanne (France).

Congratulations also to Bonnie Hancock, Michael Booth & Harriet Brown who made the Australian Under 21 Development Team who will be heading to Japan later in the year. BMD Northcliffe's Daniel Norton-Smith was also named the coach of the Under 21 team. BMD Northcliffe's Lachlan Feather also made the Australian Under 21 Development Team heading to New Zealand to compete in a Pool Rescue Competition in October.

Well Done Everyone!

KNG SERIES FINAL

Shannon Eckstein continued his domination of the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Ironman Series with a thrilling sprint finish victory in Round 5 at North Cronulla on the weekend. The race win secured the overall series crown for the 5th time with an impressive 4 wins from 5 starts this season. Club mate, Nathan Smith, who will retire from Ironman Competition at the end of the season, had a great race placing 4th with Pierce Leonard in 7th.

In the women's race, Elizabeth Pluimers claimed her second win of the series in a BMD Northcliffe trifecta with Kristyl Smith in 2nd place and Courtney Hancock in 3rd. Unfortunately the win wasn't enough to claim the overall series pointscore, finishing in 2nd behind Mooloolaba's Alicia Marriott.

Overall Series Pointscore:

Male
1st - Shannon Eckstein, 7th - Nathan Smith, 8th - Pierce Leonard

Female
2nd - Elizabeth Pluimers, 4th - Kristyl Smith, 6th - Courtney Hancock

For all the series results in full click here.

Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Series

After 4 rounds of the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Series completed, Shannon Eckstein looks set to defend his Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Ironman Series title. Shannon won the opening two rounds at Kurrawa, placed 2nd in Round 3 and then claimed victory once again in Round 4 in big surf at Alexandra Headlands. Shannon sits on top of the leader board 6 points clear of his nearest rival.

In the women's field, Kristyl Smith took the overall lead after round 3 where she claimed her first race win of the series. Unfortunately her reign at the top of the table was short lived after losing her ski in the final leg of Round 4 and finished in 18th place. Clubmate, Elizabeth Pluimers, claimed victory in Round 4 for her first race win of the series. Elizabeth is the highest ranked BMD Northcliffe in 4th place with Courtney in 5th and Kristyl now relegated to 6th place.


The 5th and final round, the "eliminator", will be held at North Cronulla on Sunday 21 February with double points on offer.

BMD Northcliffe Athletes Progressive pointscore (after 4 rounds)

Male
1st Shannon Eckstein
7th Pierce Leonard
8th Nathan Smith
11th Cory Hill
16th Daniel Moodie
21st Cameron Gordon (wild card)

Female
4th Elizabeth Pluimers
5th Courtney Hancock
6th Kristyl Smith
8th Terri Sullivan
9th Bonnie Hancock
13th Flora Manciet
16th Sheree Merryfull
18th Harriet Brown (wild card)
19th Katie Graham
20th Casey Leo-Litzow (wild card)
21st Jessica Walker (wild card)

For more information on this years Kellogg's Ironman Series click here.