It's almost here. The biggest sporting event on the calendar for surf clubs all over Australia (no offence Comm Games).
The 2018 Australian Surf Life Saving Championships, held in different locations every year, will be coming to Scarborough, Perth in just a few days. For many athletes, this is the culmination of a year's worth of training and smaller carnivals to reach this level, and Kurrawa is no different.
This year, Kurrawa will have 102 athletes heading to the west coast to compete over Youth, Masters and Open Australian Titles.
The Breakdown
Our beach contingent is a force to be reckoned with, as 29 of them have their eyes on the gold.
Special mentions include:
Casie Fyall: New Zealand SLSA Open Team member
Nicole Kay: Previous 2 x Australian Champ in the Beach Sprint (2013 & 2016)
Placed 6th at the recent Commonwealth Games Trials in the 200m
Selected in the Open Australian Team to compete at the Melanesian Champs in May
Caleb Enright: 2018 QLD State U19 Beach Sprint Champion
Jason Gough: 2018 QLD State Open Beach Flags Champion
Bree Masters: Current World Beach Sprint Champion
2018 QLD State Beach Sprint Champion
Overall Flags Champ for Ocean 6
Our water athletes are sure to make a few competitors nervous with some impressive achievements behind them:
Matt Bevilacqua: Current Nutri-Grain Ironman Champion
3x Molokai Board Paddle Champion (last 3 consecutive years)
Current Australian Representative at the International Surf Rescue Challenge
Matt Poole: 2017 Nutri-Grain Ironman Champion
Molokai Board Paddle Champion 2014
Solomon Wright: Open water swim specialist
Current Pier to Pub Champion
2nd Rottness Island Channel Swim
Brielle Cooper Current Nutri-Grain Ironwoman Champion
2nd U19 Ironwoman QLD State Titles
Bay Wilden Snedden: Won U19 State Ironwoman Title 2017 & 2018
Qualified for 2 rounds of the Nutri-Grain Ironwoman Series
Bonnie Hancock: Current Overall Ski Champion for Ocean 6 Series
Rebecca Creedy: 2 x Australian Ironwoman Champion 2014 & 2016
Callum Lowe-Griffith: Captain of the Australian Youth Life Saving Team 2016
U15 Australian Ironman Champion
Our boaties are also raring to go after a great run at State Titles, despite the weather conditions!
We wish all our athletes the very best of luck for the 2018 Aussies and we wanted to thank Nolans Transport for providing the logistics of all our equipment across Australia - no small feat!