BMD Northcliffe Takes the Double in Round 1

BMD Northcliffe athletes dominated the opening round of the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Series on the weekend at Currumbin taking victory in both the womens and the mens enduro format races.

In the womens race, it was a come from behind victory for Elizabeth Pluimers after a bad start in the opening ski leg. Elizabeth made her way back through the field and drew level with Alicia Marriot on a wave in the board leg. Both girls hit the sand together but Elizabeth had the legs in the final 800m run leg to take the win. BMD Northcliffe's Courtney Hancock  joined Elizabeth on the podium finishing in 3rd place with Harriet Brown in 7th, Kristyl Smith in 8th and Bonnie Hancock rounding out the top 10.

In the mens race, Shannon Eckstein proved he could go the distance in the gruelling 2 hour race format taking the lead early in the race and holding on for a comfortable victory ahead of his brother and clubmate Caine Eckstein. BMD Northcliffe's Pierce Leonard finished in 7th place which was a good result considering he had a back operation in the off season. 

For full results of Round 1 click here.

Round 2 will be held at Bondi Beach on Friday 3rd December with an eliminator format.

Round 2 will be televised from 5pm (AEDST) on One HD.

2010 Coolangatta Gold

BMD Northcliffe's, Caine Eckstein, displayed his dominance of the gruelling Coolangatta Gold yesterday, claiming his 4th victory in the event. Caine and club mate Cory Hill took the early lead in the ski leg but Caine opened up a 4 minute gap in the swim leg and gradually increased his lead over the race to win by over 15 minutes. 21 year old Cory Hill held on to 2nd place improving on his 4th placing in the event last year. After missing the deep water race start by almost 10 minutes, Dean Mercer put in a courageous effort making his way through the field to eventually finish in 4th place.

In the women's event BMD Northcliffe's Courtney Hancock placed 2nd with club mate Elizabeth Pluimers fighting off her demons from last years race to claim 3rd. Courtney's younger sister, Bonnie, placed 4th with Sheree Merryfull (7th) & Harriet Brown (9th) also finishing in the top 10.

Our U19 Men had some very impressive results with Riley McGregor, Tanyn Lyndon, Jarryd McDonnell & Max Beatie finishing 1st, 3rd, 4th & 5th respectively.

In the Masters women's event, BMD Northcliffe's Tiarne Smith finished in 3rd place.

A big thank you must go to all the handlers, helpers and mums and dads that made the day such a success. Its a huge event to co-ordinate logistically and couldn't be done without you!

For all BMD Northcliffe's results from the Gold Click here.

To view all results from the Coolangatta Gold including times and splits Click here.

Left: Cory Hill & Caine lead out the opening Ski leg. Right: Courtney Hancock (2nd) & Elizabeth Pluimers (3rd) all smiles after the race on the presentation podium

South Coast Branch Interbranch Team

Congratulations to the following members who have been selected in the 2010 South Coast Branch Team.

Heidi Greenwood (U13)                  
Allabama Wyke (U13)  
Greta Peterson (U14)                      
Christie Short (U14)
Stephanie Rutherford (U14)
Jessica Unicomb (U14)                                
Zach Brown (U14)
Grayson Bell (U14)                            
Jessica Byrne (U15)                        
Joel Brown (U15)
Olivia Hall (U17)                              
Tamika Gillett (U17) 
Stefaan Demopoulos (U17)              
Lachlan Feather (U17)

Rescue 2010

Congratulations to all the BMD Northcliffe athletes that competed at Rescue 2010 World Surf Life Saving Championships representing the club as well as their National Teams. In the National Teams, Shannon Eckstein & Kristyl Smith representing Australia, cleaned up both claiming their respective Ironperson titles. Kristyl also added a gold in the Board Race, Rescue Tube Rescue & Taplin Relay and 4 silvers in the Surf Race, Ski Race, Board Rescue and 4 x 50m Obstacles Relay and a Bronze in the Beach Realy. Shannon also took gold in the Surf Race, Board Rescue and SERC event as well as silver in the Taplin Relay. Dan Moodie won Gold in the Male Board Race representing NZ and also teamed with fellow BMD Northcliffe Kiwi clubmate Kevin Morrison in the winning NZ Taplin Relay team. Dan also picked up 4 silvers in the Ironman, 4 x 50m Obstacles Relay, 4 x 50m Medley Relay and the Beach Relay. Kev picked up another 2 silvers in the Rescue Tube Rescue & Beach Relay. Flora Manciet won gold in the female Board Rescue event representing France as well as a silver in Board Race and a Bronze in the Ski Race.

In the Interclub Competition, Shannon & Kristyl cleaned up again ,both winning their individual Surf Race, Board Race and Ironperson titles. Kristyl also partnered with Flora Manciet to take out the Board Rescue Title and Shannon teamed up with Dan Moodie, Kev Morrison & Steve Fry to take out the Taplin Relay. Shannon and Dan took silver in the Board Rescue and Flora Manciet picked up a silver in the Ski Race.

In the Masters events Steve Fry won gold in the 50-54 Male Surf Race and a silver in the 50-54 200m Obstacles.

For all of BMD Northcliffe Results Click Here.

To visit the Rescue 2010 Website Click Here.

2010 BMD Northcliffe Dolphin Ocean Classic

Congratulations to everyone who competed in the 10th Annual BMD Northcliffe Dolphin Ocean Classic on the weekend. Unfortunately, due to terrible surf conditions, Officials were forced to shorten  the distance of most of the events. 

In the Open Male Ski it was BMD Northcliffe's Zane Holmes that took out the event convinsingly, proving he is back to full fitness after a season off. In the Open Female Ski, defending Coolangatta Gold Champion, Alicia Marriott from Mooloolaba had a win ahead of BMD Northcliffe's Courtney Hancock and Mooloolaba's Gemma Newbiggin.

In the Open Male Board, Tugun's Hugh Dougherty took the winners cheque with BMD Northcliffe's Elizabeth Pluimers taking home the womens event. Mooloolaba's Josh Minogue won the Open Male Swim and Danielle De Francesco claimed a win in the womens event.

The addition of a Dash for Cash event for ski and board paddlers made for some excitement at the end of the day with Cam Gordon and Sheree Merryfull claiming the cash in the ski events while two youngsters Zach Orchard and Jordan Mercer beat their more fancied rivals in Open Board Dash for Cash.

For a full list of results in all age groups click here.

2010/11 KELLOGG'S NUTRI-GRAIN SERIES TRIALS

It was all smiles from BMD Northcliffe's Harriet Brown and Bonnie Hancock as they crossed the line together in first place in the final of the KNG Trial race yesterday. After three gruelling 45 minute races held over the weekend in testing surf conditions, the result safely secured both girls a spot in the 2010/11 Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Ironwoman Series which kicks off in November. There were 10 spots up for grabs from yesterday's final with Terri Sullivan also gaining a spot in 10th place. Sheree Merryfull (12th), Casey Leo-Litzow (14th) and Tatum Lawler (15th) will have a nervous wait to see if they pick up one of the 6 wildcards up for grabs.

In the mens race, BMD Northcliffe's Cory Hill and Michael Booth had a great start and were equal leaders after the first ski leg but unfortunately were hit by a set going out in the second ski leg which allowed the rest of the field to catch them.

The selected trialists and wilcards will join automatic qualifiers from last year - Shannon Eckstein, Elizabeth Pluimers, Kristyl Smith and Courtney Hancock. Zane Holmes and Pierce Leonard have already picked up two of the male wildcards on offer after having operations on injuries during the off season. Dean Mercer and Caine Eckstein will also join the list of wishful wildcards.

Round 1 of the KNG Series will be held at Currumbin on the 21 November.

For more information on the 2010/11 series go to http://surfironmanseries.com/.

2010 BMD Northcliffe Dolphin Ocean Classic

http://www.dolphinoceanclassic.com/