At the start of this September’s school holidays, Mackay Surf Lifesaving Club sent a ‘small, but strong’ contingent of 10 lifesavers to take on the best of the North Barrier Branch, consisting of competitors from Sarina in the south to Ingham in the north.
The event took place at the beautiful Magnetic Island for the first carnival of the season, hosted by Townsville’s Arcadian SLSC.
The small team in numbers was strong in its competitiveness, taking out ten gold, five silver and six bronze medals, as well as a host of 4th, 5th & 6th places.
Josh Grant, Director of Surf Sports commented, “The team is only really at the start of their competitive training cycle, with most only hitting the water for the last month or so.
“To have such great results from such a small team is very promising, particularly as we build for the North Australian titles which we are hosting on our home turf at the end of October.”
He went on to state, “In terms of individual results, based on an aggregate total, we punch well above our weight when compared to huge clubs like Arcadia & Picnic Bay (both from Townsville) who field teams that number over 100 competitors.”
The lifesavers will now be training hard to get ready for the North Australian Titles, to be hosted at Harbour beach from 27th – 29th of October.
This event will see over 500 competitors compete in the largest regional Surf-lifesaving Championships outside of the southeast.
“For us this is just the beginning of bigger and better things for our club,” said Mr Grant.
Masters competitor Ben Madden took out 1st in the surf swim, board race and ironman events
Mackay U11’s Johnny Grant, Kellan McLean and Harry Madden getting ready for their next event and having some fun on Magnetic Island
Magnetic Island’s Alma Bay was a hive of activity at the first Surf Lifesaving carnival for the season
Winners are grinners – the U15 Board Relay team (Zara Richardson, Molly Madden and Meliana Craig) dominated all other clubs taking out 1st place. Photo Credit: Lean McLean Photography
Mackay Surf Club’s “small but strong” team is gaining a reputation throughout the region for their surf sports competitiveness. Photo credit: Leah McLean Photography
