Blue ribbon event decided at the NSW Age Surf Life Saving Championships

Pittwater House student Jayke Rees is the new Under 14 State Ironman thanks to a winning performance in the blue ribbon event at the 2010 NSW Age Surf Life Saving Championships staged over the weekend at Blacksmiths Beach in the Hunter.

Rees has never placed in the Ironman event at state level before, making today’s victory at Swansea Belmont even sweeter for the Warriewood SLSC member who has been a nipper since he was seven.

After a strong swim that saw him push through the green water to reach the turning cans in second place behind Coogee’s Ben Thornton, Rees hit the front of the field. He was first to his board for the final leg of the two stage event and never sacrificed his hard-fought advantage.

Rees ran unperturbed over the top of a blue bottle second time around the cans as he paddled furiously to catch the final winning wave to the beach, all the time looking over his shoulder at the chasing pack led by Thornton.

“I just tried my best” said the fourteen year old who spends most weekends at the beach and is also a NSW schools swimming rep. “Conditions this weekend were challenging with big surf and waves coming from all directions,” he acknowledged.

Rees also took out the Under 14 Male Board event on what was a perfect summer’s day at Blacksmiths Beach with plenty of sunshine and a light nor’easterly sea breeze blowing onshore.

Terrigal’s Karlee Nurthen admitted that by the time she pipped the rest if the field in the Under 14 Ironwoman event she was pretty exhausted. Three days of tough competition tested the four time previous winner who stretched her lead by the board leg and caught a final wave to the beach to beat her nearest rival, Danielle McMahon from Wanda.

“My plan was to stick on Georgia’s [Miller] wash and hope to get past her,” said Nurthen.

Preferring the paddle leg of the Ironwoman event to the swim, Nurthen saved her best for last, powering home to take gold for her Central Coast club.

Karlee’s older sister Amy is a Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Ironwoman and Karlee is well on the way to emulating her sister’s success. Following a gold winning performance this morning in the Under 14 Board finals there were high hopes for Freshwater’s Georgia Miller in the Ironwoman event. Miller dominated the swim leg and was first to the boards but as she paddled out through the white water a wave knocked her sideways and she never regained her place.

In the overall pointscore Manly SLSC’s team of 194 juniors has finally ended Cronulla’s 12 year dream run, beating the second placed Wanda by 30 points.

Sita Mason and Lachlan Bruce, Manly’s junior captains, this afternoon spoke about Manly’s state championship pointscore win.
“We feel proud to represent Manly as the captains and to place first at this carnival,” said Mason.

Although she will be moving up to the seniors next year Mason said the younger age groups should be able to maintain Manly’s current form. “The club has put a lot into training the younger age groups and it’s starting to show in the medal count for Manly.”

This year’s state title was the last to be held at Swansea Belmont as part of a three year agreement. Next year’s championship will be held at Cudgen Headland SLSC, Kingscliff, on the far north coast.

OVERALL POINTSCORE

Article: NSW SLS  BLK1 Photographer: www.petersollner.com

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