BMD Northcliffe Claim Trifecta in Rnd 1 of KNG

BMD Northcliffe Ironwoman, Courtney Hancock, proved any of her doubters wrong when she took out the opening round of the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Ironwoman Series at Surfers Paradise on the weekend. After claiming the overall series title last season without claiming a race victory, Courtney was quick to prove that she had deserved the crown.

BMD Northcliffe's, Kristyl Smith was the early leader with Courtney and clubmate, Elizabeth Pluimers mid-field after the opening board leg. Both Courtney and Elizabeth made up ground in the run and swim legs and were neck and neck in the final ski leg but Courtney had the goods edging away from Elizabeth in the closing stages. Kristyl Smith held on for 3rd place making it a BMD Northcliffe trifecta. BMD Northcliffe's, Harriet Brown, finished in 7th place with Kirsty Holmes in 15th and Bonnie Hancock in 17th.

In the mens race, BMD Northcliffe's Shannon Eckstein found himself in unfamiliar teritory turning the M shape board flag in equal last. Shannon clawed his way back to mid-field but it just wasn't his day, finishing 9th. Shannon's brother, Caine, was the eventual race winner on the day proving he is the enduro king. BMD Northcliffe's, Zane Holmes, ended up in 11th place with Cory Hill & Tanyn Lyndon finishing 14th & 15th respectively.

Round 2 heads to Portsea in Victoria which is reknown for dishing up big swells making for exciting racing in the 'Triple Sprint' format.

http://surfironmanseries.com/

Surf Safe Appeal Documentary

In conjunction with this year's Surf Safe Appeal which runs from Monday 21 November through to Sunday 4 December, Channel 9 will be airing a documentary called "Between the Flags... Beyond the Beach" and will highlight the extraordinary people involved in surf life saving, share real life stories of what services we provide to the public and inform the wider community as to why Surf Life Saving Queensland needs their help this summer during the appeal. The documentary will feature BMD Northcliffe nippers, patrol members and bronze award training. 

Tune in at 6.30pm on Sunday 27 November at 6.30pm to check out BMD Northcliffe in action.

2011-12 South Coast Branch Team Announced

BMD Northcliffe will have a strong representation in the 2011/12 South Coast Branch Team this season. 17 BMD Northcliffe members will represent the Branch at the Interbranch Champs being held in December. The team was selected from a selection trial carnival held at Mermaid Beach on the weekend.

Congratulations to the following members selected in the team -

Under 13
Elly Wikaire
Laura Taylor
Bailey Armstrong
Toby Redler
Kobe Schulz

Under 14
Allabama Wyke
Grace Rosato

Under 15
Jessica Unicomb
Stephanie Rutherford
Zach Brown
Andrew Byrne
Ben Bannan

Under 17
Alana McGoldrick
Abby Clarke
Courtney Innes
Lachlan Feather
Stefaan Demopoulos

For a full list of the whole team, Click Here.

2011 Coolangatta Gold

It's not often that a 30km race comes down to a sprint finish, but yesterday spectators witnessed one of the closest Coolangatta Gold finishes in history between BMD Northcliffe Clubmates, Courtney Hancock and Elizabeth Pluimers. The two girls went head to head in the final 7.5km sand run. In the end it was Courtney Hancock who had just that little bit more left in the tank to secure her first victory in the event. Elizabeth would have to settle for 2nd place as she collapsed after crossing the line. Other BMD Northcliffe athletes to finish in the top 10 in the womens race were Harriet Brown in 8th and Kristyl Smith in 10th.

In the Mens race, illness almost forced BMD Northcliffe's Cory Hill who was runner up in last years Coolangatta Gold to withdraw from the race before it had even begun. Cory pushed on to finish a credible 6th place. Other BMD Northcliffe Ironmen to finish  in the top 10 were Cameron Gordon 5th and Stuart Snell in 7th place.

In the 30-39 Female Masters event, Tiarne Smith claimed her first victory in the event and Richard Bedford finished 6th in the 50+ Male Masters event.

For all results including split times, click here.

2011 BMD Northcliffe Dolphin Classic Results

Despite the forecast of rain and howling Southerlies, the weather was reasonably kind for the 11th Annual BMD Northcliffe Dolphin Ocean Classic on the weekend.

Competitors did have some tough conditions heading in to the wind but that made for good runs for the journey home. In the blue ribbon open events it was BMD Northcliffe duo Cory Hill & Elizabeth Pluimers who took out the 20km Ski events. Cory's good form from the recent Kellogg's trials continued winning the race by a considerable margin in a class field. In the women's race, Elizabeth Pluimers proved too strong with clubmates Courtney Hancock and Kristyl Smith rounding out the places to make it a BMD Northcliffe trifecta.

In the Open Female Board, Bonnie Hancock claimed a victory ahead of Noosa's Jordan Mercer and BMD Northcliffe Harriet Brown. In the men's race, Kurrawa's Phil Clayton took out the event with North Burleigh's Mitch Miller on 2nd and Met Caloundra's Corey Jones in 3rd place.

The final events of the day were the Open Male & Female Swim Events. Courtney Hancock took out the women's event with Phil Clayton getting his second win for the day in the open Male event.

There were plenty of happy random draw winners on the day giving away skis, boards, paddles, board covers, running shoes, eskys and much more!

For results in all events, click here.

2011 BMD Northcliffe Dolphin Ocean Classic

ENTRIES NOW EXTENDED UNTIL THIS FRIDAY 26 AUGUST

ENTER HERE NOW!!!

2011 Australian Pool Rescue Championships

Photo courtesy of Harvpix

The Australian Pool Rescue Championships were held at the AIS in Canberra on the weekend. BMD Northcliffe sent only a small team of 8 members to the championships, but all returned home with a medal.

Stand outs were Stefaan Demopoulos with 4 gold medals, new member Christina Ruiz with 3 gold and Dev Lahey with 1 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze.

Dev Lahey and Christina Ruiz were also selected in the Australian Team to represent their country at the German Cup in November. Well done Dev & Christina!

For BMD Northcliffes Results, Click Here.

For all Results including times, Click Here.

Tanyn on Tourism Australia Chanel

Check out Tanyn Lyndon, current U19 Ironman Champion, in this feature video created by the Tourism Australia Chanel - 30 Days in Oz.

SLSQ Awards of Excellence

Congratulations to the following members who were award recipients at the SLSQ Awards of Excellence on Saturday night. 

SLSQ Athlete of the Year - Shannon Eckstein

SLSQ Rookie Official of the Year - Greg Durie

SLSQ Coach of the Year - Barry Newman

BMD Northcliffe also won the Presidents Trophy for overall champion club in QLD.

Our Open Patrol Competition Team also recieved an SLSQ Life Saving Excellend Award for the rescue they performed during competition at the South Coast Branch Surf Rescue Championships earlier in the year.

Special mention also must be made of the following members who were finalists in their categories on the evening -

Tim Burgess - Volunteer of the Year & Trainer of the Year

Glen Russell - Lifesaver of the Year & Assessor of the Year
Terri Sullivan - Masters Athlete of the Year

Mitch Coombes - Junior Athlete of the Year

Abbey Short - Junior Lifesaver of the Year

BMD Northcliffe Cleans Up at SCB Dinner

BMD Northcliffe cleaned up at the South Coast Branch Annual Dinner held at Bond University on the weekend. The Club won a massive 14 AWARDS!

Congratulation to the following award winners -

THE "DON STONE" JUNIOR LIFESAVER OF THE YEAR - ABBEY SHORT

LIFESAVER OF THE YEAR - GLEN RUSSELL

ASSESSOR OF THE YEAR - GLEN RUSSELL

VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR - TIM BURGESS

TRAINER OF THE YEAR - TIM BURGESS

U15 FEMALE CHAMPION LIFESAVER - ABBEY SHORT

U15 MALE CHAMPION LIFESAVER - ZACH BROWN

U19 FEMALE CHAMPION LIFESAVER - INDIA HANCOCK

U19 MALE CHAMPION LIFESAVER - JAKE NICHOLSON

OPEN FEMALE CHAMPION LIFESAVER - KATHRYN MCKENZIE

OPEN PATROL CHAMPIONS -
ADAM JONES, DAMIEN MOFFREY, JAKE NICHOLSON, KATHRYN MCKENZIE, NICK PLUIMERS, TRENT ROWE

U11 - U14 OVERALL CHAMPION CLUB

THE "PETER LACEY TROPHY" OVERALL CHAMPION CLUB

THE "STEVE OWEN TROPHY" SCB SURF LIFESAVING CLUB OF THE YEAR

2011 Australian Surf Lifesaving Championships

AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONS SINCE 2004!

BMD Northcliffe continued their unbeaten Australian Championships streak by winning the 2010/11 Titles at Kurrawa with its biggest ever winning margin, 171pts over Mooloolaba and Kurrawa in third.

Competition started with the Lifesaving section having their best season yet collecting 4 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze, accumulating 44 points.
Stuart Snell took out his third Male Champion Lifesaver title with Kathryn McKenzie winning her first Female Champion Lifesaver event. The Open Patrol Competition wrote their way into the record books with their 10th straight win. (Damien Moffrey & Trent Rowe members for all wins).


Shannon Eckstein won his forth Ironman title in convincing style while Courtney Hancock's come from behind victory in the Ironwoman was a highlight. Coming 2nd in the Ironwoman was Elizabeth Pluimers who also took out the Female Board Race and with a Gold in the Womens Surf Teams (with Kristyl Smith, Courtney and Bonnie Hancock), Elizabeth's Gold medal winning tally hit 19 (the highest of any female at the Australian Championships). Ayla Dunlop-Barrett won her first gold in the Female Belt race with the Open Females also winning the Board Relay, Double ski and Long board riding.

Shannon also had a victory in the Restricted Surf Race aswell as teaming up with Dev Lahey, Pierce Leonard and Dan Moodie to take out the Male Surf Teams Race and the Male Taplin Relay with Dev, Pierce, Joel Simpson, Tate Smith and Mark Bint.

Our U19s dominated their age group winning the U19 pointscore and coming away with 8 Gold, 2 Silver and 3 Bronze. Tanyn Lyndon (U19 Ironman), Riley McGregor (U19 MaleChampion Lifesaver), Jack Murphy (U19 Male Ski) and Anna Notten (U19 Female 2km run) had wins as well as the U19 Male Board Relay, Ski Relay, Rescue Tube Rescue and Board Rescue.

The U17s also had success with Jordan Harrison winning the U17 Male Surf Race and then combining with Lachlan Feather, Jordan Cooke-Lablache and Stefaan Demopoulos to win the U17s Male Surf Teams. Jordan and Stefaan also teamed with Michael Barnett to take out the U17s Male Board Relay.

Our U15s came away from the carnival with 2 Golds, 3 Silvers and a Bronze. Brodie Smith, Jerry Dennis teamed with U14 members Zach Brown and Ben Bannan to win the U15 Male Surf Teams and Jess Byrne, Susie Greenwood teaming with U14s Abbey and Christie Short to take out the U15 Female Cameron Relay. Special mention to Zach and Christie who both won silver in their U15 Champion Lifesaver events - still with another year to compete.

In the boat arena, BMD Northcliffe won the overall boat pointscore with 4 crews making finals. Open Male 4th, Open Female 3rd, U23s 3rd, Reserves 4th.

After being beaten at the State titles, the Masters claimed the Australian Masters titles in fine form with a win over Noosa Heads. Terri Sullivan lead the medal tally with 8 gold, followed by Tiarne Smith with 6, Anna Ballara 5 and Gavin Hill 4.

For full results Click here.

For the Open overall Pointscore Click here.

For Masters Overall Pointscore Click here.

2011 QLD State Surf Life Saving Championships

BMD Northcliffe Surf Club took out the 2011 QLD State Surf Life Saving Championships on the weekend at Kurrawa. Despite missing a few key members and several events being cancelled due to time constraints, BMD Northcliffe accumulated an impressive 499 points, 189 points clear of nearest rival Mooloolaba on 310.

Our Open Female competitors had a fantastic weekend with a clean sweep of the individual female water events. BMD Northcliffe's Elizabeth Pluimers claimed her first State Open Ironwoman crown ahead of club mate's Courtney Hancock and Harriet Brown rounding out the trifecta. (pictured right) Elizabeth also won the Open Female Board Race earlier in the day ahead of club mate Kristyl Smith. Courtney Hancock took out the Open Female Surf Race ahead of her sister Bonnie in 2nd. In the Open Female Single Ski race, Kelly Jury took gold with club mate Kathryn McKenzie in 3rd place. The open girls also won gold in the Ski Relay, Surf Teams and Taplin Relay. 

Our U17 boys had a similarly impressive weekend with Daniel Coleman taking out the 2km Beach Run, Michael Barnett the Board Race, Lachie Feather the Surf Race and Stefan Demopolous the Belt Race. The boys also won gold in the Taplin and Board Relays.

On the Beach, it was great to see Aaron Stubbs back racing in the maroon and white taking out the Open Male Beach Sprint event.

In the boat arena, our Reserves took Gold while our Open Males and Open Females both claimed silver in their events respectively.

For a full list of results Click here.

For the overall point score Click here.

For Masters Results Click here.

Clubs QLD Awards 2011

BMD Northcliffe Escapes Carnage at the QLD Cup Final Round

The final round of the QLD Cup Boat Series was contested in wild seas at Coolum Beach on the Sunshine Coast on the weekend. The treacherous conditions caused grief with plenty of wipeouts. 

BMD Northcliffe emerged relatively unscathed with a 1^st placing for our Reserves and Under 23's and a second placing for our A Grade Men. 

These crews also featured in the results of the overall QLD Cup Premiership with our A Grade Men & Under 23's taking out their premierships and our Reserves named runners up in the series.

As if one day of battering wasn't enough, our crews came back for more punishment on Sunday for the Sizzler Oceans 38 'Best of the Best' Surf Boat Carnival. Dangerous conditions at Coolum forced organisers to relocate the event to Mooloolaba. The BMD Northcliffe Saints Open Men crew continued their good run of results with a comfortable win and in the Open Women our girls stepped up on the podium with BMD Northcliffe Novas securing 2nd.

ASRL QLD - Round 4

Close to 90 Surfboat crews hit Mooloolaba beach yesterday, from between far north Queensland and northern NSW, near flat surf and forceful cross winds. BMD Northcliffe secured 4 of their crews into the surf boat finals. 

In the Open Men's final, Drew's A Grade crew finished 2nd to the much bigger Currumbin crew who are all still water specialists at national level. Drew's women's crew finished 5th in their final. Our big win of the day was Matt's Reserve Grade, won all their races only to secure the worse end alley (7) in the final which was 2 boat lengths longer, crossed the line one boat in front  - huge row in flat conditions. Matt's Under 23 Crew finished 4th in their final, good result considering they also rowed 4 x tough Open Men's divisional races (missed that final by one point getting into that final) all up they completed 8 races all day, compared to everyone doing 4 - 5 races, in a half day. 

Another big thank you to Trent Keily who rowed as a fill in stroke seat in the A Grade then backed up to row in his regular stroke seat in Reserve, that's 9 hard flat water rows at 100%!

QLD Cyclones Victorious at the Interstate Championships

The QLD Cyclones put an end to NSW's four year dominance of the Interstate Championships yesterday, taking victory in the state team competition held at Homebush and Queenscliff. Not only did QLD take out the overall Championships, they also took out the Pool, Ocean and Handicap pointscores.

BMD Northcliffe Members Kristyl Smith, Liz Pluimers, Dev Lahey, Stefaan Demopoulos and QLD Cyclones Coach, Barry Newman, all contributed to the success with some impressive results.

In day 1 of competition at Homebush Aquatic Centre, Stefaan Demopoulos took out two individual events, U17 100m Manikan Tow with Fins and U17 200m Super Lifesaver. Dev Lahey won the Open 200m with Obstacles and the Open Line Throw.  

In day 2 of competition, the ocean specialists hit the beach with Liz Pluimers claiming victory in the Open Board and Kristyl Smith with victories in the Open Ski and Ironwoman events. Dev Lahey also backed up with a win in the Open Male Surf Race.  

For all the results from the Interstate Championships click here.

BMD Northcliffe Duo Claim KNG Crowns

BMD Northcliffe's Shannon Eckstein & Courtney Hancock took out their overall series KNG crowns at Noosa Last weekend. While both finished with only a 5th placing in the final round at Noosa, it was enough to secure Shannon's 6th KNG Ironman crown and Courtney's maiden Ironwoman Series crown.

Noosa Beach provided small clean waves which allowed for fast, close racing.  Despite torrential rain and thunder storms, thousands of brave spectators stuck around for the action packed racing.

In the Men's race, which was reduced from 5 races to 3 races due to lightning, BMD Northcliffe's Zane Holmes became the only male this season to notch up 2 race wins after also winning round 4 at Portsea. The win also gave him 3rd place overall for the series.

In the women's race, BMD Northcliffe's Elizabeth Pluimers claimed her 4th race victory of the season. In the overall in the series Elizabeth finished 2nd behind Courtney with club mate's Kristyl Smith finishing in 4th and Bonnie Hancock in 10th. The top 10 in both the mens and womens gain automatic qualification into the 2011/12 series.

For detailed results go to http://surfironmanseries.com/

PORTSEA DELIVERS FOR ROUND 4

Portsea didn't dissapoint when it came to providing some swell, action and carnage for Round 4 of the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Ironman Series on the weekend. The athletes were put to the test with big seas and chilly water tempretures. 

BMD Northcliffe's Zane Holmes proved he was back in form, winning 2 of the 3 races to take the overall win for the day. Clubmate, Shannon Eckstein, finished 3rd which was enough to claim back the black leaders singlet heading in to the final round.

In the women's race, series leader Elizabeth Pluimers copped the brunt of the ocean damaging two skis and a board in the two ironwoman races and in the process, relinquished her overall series lead to clubmate, Courtney Hancock. Courtney, who hasn't finished off the podium all series continued on with her consistency placing 2nd which was enough to secure the overall series lead.

There's no rest for the athletes who head to Noosa this weekend for the final round of the series. The eliminator format and expected flat conditions should provide some exciting, close, fast racing.