Narooma lifesavers made their club proud and returned with three gold medals from the NSW Country Surf Life Saving Championships at South West Rocks on the weekend.
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Rod and Sam Patmore of Narooma showed the speed across the sand that is in their bloodlines, winning the men’s 30s and under 9s beach sprint respectively.
Rod also won another gold with his Narooma surfboat team mates Nigel, Jae and Brendan Constable and Michael Manning in the 120 years men’s race.
The club’s reserves crew of Troy Beecham, Jon Hull, Jon Carruthers, Andrew McCaughtrie and Brendan Constable rowed well in its heats only to miss the final by a point.
Narooma’s Elli Beecham was also quick on her feet and returned with a bronze medal from the under 12s beach sprint and made the top five of the beach flag field.
Fellow Eurobodalla club, Broulee Surfers, managed to nab a few medals of its own.
Broulee Nipper Abbey Dunn was fastest across the sand in the under 11s girls’ beach sprint. She also won silver in the under 11s board race and club mate Jo Flood, running barefoot on high tide, was second in the women’s 40s two-kilometre beach run.
Broulee girls Makynli Dale and Tarren Elliott and boy Rhys Flood just missed out on medals and were fourth in the under 9s and under 10s surf race and under 12s beach flags respectively.
Rhys, his older brother Aaron Flood (under 17s) and Kirra Dale (under 12s) all made the final of their respective beach sprint fields.
Byron Bay won its sixth straight NSW Country title by the narrowest of margins over perennial rivals Cudgen Headland.
The Far North Coast club traded the lead with Cudgen Headland on several occasions throughout the day, but it was their sheer number of entrants in the water events that was enough to get them home.
Coffs Harbour SLSC, Port Macquarie and Sawtell rounded out the top five.
NSW sports manager Rob Pidgeon said he was delighted with success of the Country Championships.
“Congratulations to Byron Bay for taking out the overall Club Point Score for 2016, and I would like to thank South West Rocks for being fantastic hosts,” Mr Pidgeon said.
“The club coped with everything thrown at them including a number of challenges with the wind and rain but it was clear that everyone enjoyed their time here.
“We look forward to returning to South West Rocks in 2017 for another fantastic championships.”