Ocean Thunder - Round 1

Congratulations to our Crew from BMD Northcliffe who competed at Ocean Thunder in Sydney on Dee Why Beach last weekend. Team Hogs Breath came fourth out of 24 elite crews from across Australia. Considering they had only trained 3 times together as a team, this was a great effort!. These guys completed 11 grueling races in under 6 hours! Stay tuned for a full 1 hour telecast of Round 1 shown on FOX Sports 1 on Thursday 15 December....

http://www.oceanthunder.com.au/ 

2011 Coolangatta Gold

It's not often that a 30km race comes down to a sprint finish, but yesterday spectators witnessed one of the closest Coolangatta Gold finishes in history between BMD Northcliffe Clubmates, Courtney Hancock and Elizabeth Pluimers. The two girls went head to head in the final 7.5km sand run. In the end it was Courtney Hancock who had just that little bit more left in the tank to secure her first victory in the event. Elizabeth would have to settle for 2nd place as she collapsed after crossing the line. Other BMD Northcliffe athletes to finish in the top 10 in the womens race were Harriet Brown in 8th and Kristyl Smith in 10th.

In the Mens race, illness almost forced BMD Northcliffe's Cory Hill who was runner up in last years Coolangatta Gold to withdraw from the race before it had even begun. Cory pushed on to finish a credible 6th place. Other BMD Northcliffe Ironmen to finish in the top 10 were Cameron Gordon 5th and Stuart Snell in 7th place.

In the 30-39 Female Masters event, Tiarne Smith claimed her first victory in the event and Richard Bedford finished 6th in the 50+ Male Masters event.

For all results including split times, click here.

2011 Australian Championships

AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONS SINCE 2004!

BMD Northcliffe continued their unbeaten Australian Championships streak by winning the 2010/11 Titles at Kurrawa with its biggest ever winning margin, 171pts over Mooloolaba and Kurrawa in third.

Competition started with the Lifesaving section having their best season yet collecting 4 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze, accumulating 44 points.

Stuart Snell took out his third Male Champion Lifesaver title with Kathryn McKenzie winning her first Female Champion Lifesaver event. The Open Patrol Competition wrote their way into the record books with their 10th straight win. (Damien Moffrey & Trent Rowe members for all wins).

Shannon Eckstein won his forth Ironman title in convincing style while Courtney Hancock's come from behind victory in the Ironwoman was a highlight. Coming 2nd in the Ironwoman was Elizabeth Pluimers who also took out the Female Board Race and with a Gold in the Womens Surf Teams (with Kristyl Smith, Courtney and Bonnie Hancock), Elizabeth's Gold medal winning tally hit 19 (the highest of any female at the Australian Championships). Ayla Dunlop-Barrett won her first gold in the Female Belt race with the Open Females also winning the Board Relay, Double ski and Long board riding.

Shannon also had a victory in the Restricted Surf Race aswell as teaming up with Dev Lahey, Pierce Leonard and Dan Moodie to take out the Male Surf Teams Race and the Male Taplin Relay with Dev, Pierce, Joel Simpson, Tate Smith and Mark Bint.

Our U19s dominated their age group winning the U19 pointscore and coming away with 8 Gold, 2 Silver and 3 Bronze. Tanyn Lyndon (U19 Ironman), Riley McGregor (U19 MaleChampion Lifesaver), Jack Murphy (U19 Male Ski) and Anna Notten (U19 Female 2km run) had wins as well as the U19 Male Board Relay, Ski Relay, Rescue Tube Rescue and Board Rescue.

The U17s also had success with Jordan Harrison winning the U17 Male Surf Race and then combining with Lachlan Feather, Jordan Cooke-Lablache and Stefaan Demopoulos to win the U17s Male Surf Teams. Jordan and Stefaan also teamed with Michael Barnett to take out the U17s Male Board Relay.

Our U15s came away from the carnival with 2 Golds, 3 Silvers and a Bronze. Brodie Smith, Jerry Dennis teamed with U14 members Zach Brown and Ben Bannan to win the U15 Male Surf Teams and Jess Byrne, Susie Greenwood teaming with U14s Abbey and Christie Short to take out the U15 Female Cameron Relay. Special mention to Zach and Christie who both won silver in their U15 Champion Lifesaver events - still with another year to compete.

In the boat arena, BMD Northcliffe won the overall boat pointscore with 4 crews making finals. Open Male 4th, Open Female 3rd, U23s 3rd, Reserves 4th.

After being beaten at the State titles, the Masters claimed the Australian Masters titles in fine form with a win over Noosa Heads. Terri Sullivan lead the medal tally with 8 gold, followed by Tiarne Smith with 6, Anna Ballara 5 and Gavin Hill 4.

For full results Click here.

For the Open overall Pointscore Click here.

For Masters Overall Pointscore Click here.

Carnage at QLD Cup Final Round

The final round of the QLD Cup Boat Series was contested in wild seas at Coolum Beach on the Sunshine Coast on the weekend. The treacherous conditions caused grief with plenty of wipeouts. 

BMD Northcliffe emerged relatively unscathed with a 1^st placing for our Reserves and Under 23's and a second placing for our A Grade Men. 

These crews also featured in the results of the overall QLD Cup Premiership with our A Grade Men & Under 23's taking out their premierships and our Reserves named runners up in the series.

As if one day of battering wasn't enough, our crews came back for more punishment on Sunday for the Sizzler Oceans 38 'Best of the Best' Surf Boat Carnival. Dangerous conditions at Coolum forced organisers to relocate the event to Mooloolaba. The BMD Northcliffe Saints Open Men crew continued their good run of results with a comfortable win and in the Open Women our girls stepped up on the podium with BMD Northcliffe Novas securing 2nd.