Results

2011 NT Surf Life Saving Championships 1-2 October 2011 

The 2011 Schweppes NT Junior Surf Life Saving Championships were hosted by the Broome Surf Life Saving Club at Cable Beach with over 140 competitors from the Gove Peninsula, Darwin, Mindil Beach & Broome Surf Life Saving Clubs competing in over 120 events and producing some exceptional performances despite big tides, strong currents and challenging surf. 

On Saturday the junior lifesavers  from the U8-U10 age groups and above contested the beach sprint, beach flags, board race and surf swim while the U11-U14 age groups also competed in ironman races. 

The Broome and Darwin competitors had great competition in the older junior events with a tie for U12 female age champion between Broome's Chelsea Lane and Darwin's Georgia Koch.  The 2011 junior age champions are:

Under 8 Male:             Charlie Fountain (BM)

Under 8 Female:          Emma Pager (BM)

Under 9 Male:              Pheonix Riggs (DW)

Under 9 Female:          Mia Baddock (BM)

Under 10 Male:             Jesse Ryan (DW)

Under 10 Female:         Tayla Dowzard (GP)

Under 11 Male:             Taj Mueller (BM)

Under 11 Female:          Maggie Harris (BM)

Under 12 Male:              Ryan Blenkinship (DW)

Under 12 Female:          Georgia Koch (DW) & Chelsea Lane (BM) - tied score

Under 13 Male:              Truman Lynch (BM)

Under 13 Female:           Shauna McKecknie (DW)

Under 14 Male:               Noah Chapman (BM)

Senior competition was held in good surf on Saturday afternoon and rougher conditions on Sunday with lots of excitement around the surfboat competition.  

After 3 rounds of rowing the Darwin Open Mens surfboat crew, under veteran sweep Greg Edwards, held off a fast finishing Broome crew to take out the gold medal while in the womens division the tables were turned when Broome, anchored by surf champion Carrie Selten, powered through the surf break to victory in every round.  The performances were a great credit to the skill of the crews and their sweeps in difficult conditions.

In the U15 male events Mindil Beach had great success with gold and silver in the U15 Male Ironman with Luke Marcroft leading twin brother Noah across the line and Gove's multi-talented Jesse Chamberlain taking the bronze.  Jesse went on to dominate the remainder of the events and took out the age champion title.  In the U15 Female competition Darwin's Tahni Gordon and Zoe Nibbs, had a sensational tussle with Zoe finishing only 1 point ahead in her age champion pointscore.

Broome's Carrie Selten dominated the Masters female events while husband Pete Selten picked up two gold medals in the Masters Male division but it wasn't enough to defeat the awesome power of Alan Cross from Gove who took out the Masters ironman, board and ski races in a masterly display of surf skill and fitness.

Darwin members claimed the Open Male and Open Female champion titles.  John Brown and Megan Gallagher, showed great strength and skill in the rough conditions with the pair contesting  every individual and team event on offer.  John had strong competition from clubmate Skip Hall, who produced exceptional performances to win the ski and board races, while Gallagher held off the talented Julie Greenhalgh from Broome.

The Open Ironman race was a great highlight for the Darwin club when U17 competitor Robert Gerlach pulled off a huge swim in the rough sea breeze surf of the final ironman leg to defeat Gove's Alan Cross, and Darwin colleagues Skip Hall and John Brown.   The four athletes had a great race with Hall, Cross and Brown out of the water in a bunch after the ski and board paddling legs  and Gerlach trailing in fourth place by 50 metres but Gerlach, a nationally ranked swimmer,  caught the lead group at the swimming buoys and then extended his lead in the swim back to the beach where he received rapturous applause from every spectator for a truly outstanding performance.

The senior age champions were:

Under 15 Male:                Jesse Chamberlain (GP)

Under 15 Female:            Zoe Nibbs (DW)

Under 17 Male:                Robert Gerlach (DW)

Under 17 Female:            Clodagh McKecknie (DW)

Under 19 Male:                Michael Collins (DW)

Under 19 Female:            Isla McCaw (DW)

Masters  Male:                 Alan  Cross (GP)

Masters  Female:             Carrie Selten (BM)

Open Male:                      John Brown (DW)

Open Female:                  Megan Gallagher (DW)

Although the host club Broome was severely tested by arch rivals, Darwin, they  finished the competition with the Champion Club title (931) ahead of Darwin (793), Gove Peninsula (180) and Mindil Beach (117).  The TJ Tilley Trophy, for the most enthusiastic junior competitor was awarded to Darwin's U12 competitor, Joshua Woodrow.

Surf Life Saving NT President, Bob Creek, said the performance of the junior lifesavers, most swimming and paddling their boards through nearly 300 metres of testing surf conditions was remarkable.  "These young people have developed a terrific level of skill, fitness and confidence in open water and are great ambassadors for their Surf Clubs and their communities," he said.

"In the senior ranks we are lucky to have some nationally ranked competitors, like Skip Hall and Robert Gerlach, who provide a valuable benchmark for developing athletes and their coaches."