The surf sport season has kicked off with the Interbranch Championships.
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Held on the state’s Lower North Coast – at Black Head Beach- the host branch finished at the bottom of the points tally with dominant performances by some of the bigger metro areas with Sydney’s Northern Beaches leading the charge.
The Far South Coast Branch had entries from Pambula north to Batmans Bay and was able to best the hosts with some good individual performances to secure 311 competition points.
Surf Life Saving NSW said more than 300 lifesavers were in contention over the weekend with a 34-person-strong team from the local branch.
The youngest competitors included Tathra’s Evie Blankenstein in the under 12s, while Jack Caldwell and Lachlan Harvey competed on behalf of Pambula in the under 13s.
Pambula’s Andrew Holt serving as head coach to the roster.
Most of Pambula’s entries were in the junior ranks, but entries ranged right through to the opens that included Tathra lifesavers Jessie-Hoyland Meaker and Nimmitty Ford.
Branches were restricted to a maximum of 40 entries –consisting of three male and female competitors in the Under 12, Under 13, Under 14, Under 15, Under 17, Under 19 and Open age groups.
The Sydney outfits were strong, but the Far South Coast were able to put upset the big metro branches in a few individual events.
One such upset included Patrick Broe dominating the under 14 boys beach sprint to put the Far South Coast first ahead of all 10 other branches.
Moruya’s Sophie Bolton also clinched second place in the under 12s girls flags event, the result mimicked by Ellie Beecham in the under 15s, while some others were able to secure third and fourth place finishes in their individual events.
A real strength of Interbranch has always been that it gives up-and-comers the chance to race alongside the more experienced athletes, and gives the U12s their first taste of high level competition.
Organisers said the Far South Coast would use the event as a tune-up ahead of the Envirobank Country Championships which will be held at Kingscliff on the state’s Northern Coast in February.