2012 Australian Pool Rescue Championships

Congratulation to all of our members that competed at the Australian Pool Rescue Championships on the weekend in Adelaide. Despite only having a small contingent, BMD Northcliffe managed to finish 2nd overall, only 19 points behind behind Maroochydore.

Stars of the team were Stefaan Demopoulos (4 gold, 2 silver, 3 Bronze), Lachlan Feather (3 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze), Christina Ruiz (3 gold, 3 silver) and Stephen Fry (4 gold). A special mention to Miranda Bell who competed for BMD Northcliffe for the first time, winning 1 gold and 5 silvers.Congratulations to our youngest member on the team - Jarrod Shute (under 12s) who claimed 2 bronze medals at his first national competition.

For BMD Northcliffe Medalists, click here.

For a full list of all results, click here.

SLSQ Awards of Excellence

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

Bailey Armstrong

Junior Athlete of the Year

Christine Litzow

Rookie Official of the Year

Barry Newman

Coach of the Year

Glen Russell

Assessor of the Year

BMD Northcliffe Surf Club

The President's Cup

Also receiving nominations for awards on the night were Kevin Litzow (Official of the Year), Tiarne Smith (Masters Competitor of the Year) and Glen Russell (Life Saver of the Year).

2012 Annual Dinner & Presentation Night

BMD Northcliffe's 65th Annual Dinner and Presentation of Trophies was held on Saturday night. 

Congratulations to all this year's award winners -

Patrol Captain Awards

Lisa Crouch                     Julian Fitch                       Ian Clifford

Andrew Moore                 Leigh Verner                     Sheldon Alcantara

Nick Rosato                     Scott Bradford                 James Dornan

Nick Pluimers                  Corey Bradford                 Dallas Hall

Stuart Snell                      Tim Burgess                     Sam Trueman

Trent Rowe                      Thor Harrison                    Nick Costley

Danika Harrison               Glen Russell                      Jackson Price

Mark De Cean                  Michael Barker                   Liam Bell

The BMD Group Junior Incentive Award for Junior Lifesaver of the Year

Jayden Burgess

The Graham Harrison Trophy for Most Outstanding

U15                        Alice Weir

U17                        Dorine Pantacchini

U19                        Katherine Jongebloed

Senior                   Jonathan King

The Deane Family Trophy for Best Club Member

Scott Davies

The Kolkka Family Trophy for Contribution to Life Saving

Chris Jones

The QSA Bruce Gadsden Memorial Trophy for Encouragement to Life Saving

Vinnie Smith

The Macpherson Family Trophy for Best Female Club Member

Sally Davies

The NSLSSA Patrol Incentive Trip

Michael Roberts, Scott Gray, Stephen Thompson, Nick Pluimers, Tony Beer, Julian Fitch, Sam Trueman, Scott Bradford, Tracey Gray, Danika Harrison, Emma Rynne, Christine Dennis

Youth Patrol Incentive

Abbey & Christie Short

Ken Irvine Memorial Trophy for Best Supporters Club Member

Graeme & Annette McIlwain

The Presidents Trophy

Tim & Di Burgess

Life Member Presentation

Karyn Wood

The BMD Group Trophy for Best Club Spirit

Jo Marrable & Nick Rosato

2012 Australian Champion Inductees

# 172     Daniel Booth

# 173     Daniel Hooker

# 174     Kevin Morrison

# 175     Sally Allan

# 176     Grace Rosato

# 177     Jessica Unicomb

# 178     Allabama Wyke

# 179     Remi Francis

# 180     Trent Grimsey  

Dolphin Surfcraft Craft Trophy for Competitor of the Year

Male                      Daniel Booth

Female                  Elizabeth Pluimers

Subaru Australia Yong Athlete of the Year Award

Jake Nicholson

Robbie Nay Memorial Trophy for Best Competitive Performance

Shannon Eckstein - Open Ironman

John Holmes Memorial Trophy for most Inspirational Performance

Dev Lahey - Open Belt Race & Swim leg of Taplin

Billy Eckstein Memorial for Athlete of the Year

Elizabeth Pluimers

2012 Hall of Fame Inductee

Kristyl Smith

2012 Australian Champion Club

Sadly, the 2012 Australian Surf Life Saving Championships were marred by tragedy with the loss of one our movement's finest young competitors, Mathew Barclay. Fourteen-year-old Matthew Barclay from Maroochydore disappeared in the surf while taking part in a board race at Kurrawa beach on the first day of competition. In Matthew's honour and at his parent's request, competition resumed at North Kirra two days later. A touching memorial service was held at Kurrawa on the Sunday morning attended by thousands of lifesavers who paid their respects to Mathew. Following the service, competitors returned to North Kirra for the final day of competition. 

BMD Northcliffe dominated the competition, taking out the overall carnival point score by an amazing 154.5 points. Some of the highlights include Shannon Eckstein defending his Australian Open Ironman Championship, exciting narrow victories in both the Open Male Ski & Board Relays and BMD Northcliffe taking both gold and silver in the final event of the competition - The prestigious Open Male Taplin Relay.

Our Masters also claimed a last minute unexpected victory, only taking over the masters point score lead at the conclusion of the board riding events held on Wednesday. This was a great result for our under-strength team with several members unable to compete due to injury and work commitments. 

Click here for BMD Northcliffe's Open Results.

Click here for BMD Northcliffe's Masters Results.

2012 QLD State Champions

BMD Northcliffe Surf Club took out the overall champion club title convincingly at the Crazy Johns QLD State Championships on the weekend despite missing several key team members. The win was not expected with the championships clashing with the Kayak Sprint Nationals, Australian Swimming Trials and the New Zealand Surf Life Saving Championships which reduced the strength of the team. 

Leading the way was Elizabeth Pluimers who claimed 6 gold medals at the titles. Pluimers defended her QLD Open Ironwoman title as well as claiming victory in the single ski, taplin, board relay, ski relay and mixed double ski events. She also added 2 silver medals in the female double ski and the surf teams.

Tate Smith, straight off the plane from gaining an olympic birth at the Kayak Sprint Nationals, was at back at home in the surf, claiming 4 gold medals in the single ski, ski relay, taplin relay and mixed double ski. Also claiming 4 gold was Shannon Eckstein in the restricted surf race, taplin, ski relay and surf teams, and narrowly missing out on victory in the open ironman in an exciting sprint finish with Mooloolaba's Ali Day.

On Friday, our Masters also had a successful carnival claiming the overall QLD masters club title. Tiarne Smith lead the way with an amazing 8 gold and 1 silver medal.

All is looking good for the Australian Championships which begin on Monday 26 March through to Sunday 1 April.

For all the Senior QLD Championship results, click here.

For all the Masters QLD Championships results, click here.

Pluimers Dominates Final to Claim Series Crown

Elizabeth Pluimers dominated the final round of the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Ironwoman Series claiming the race victory along with the overall series title at Noosa Heads on the weekend. 

Liz went in to the final round trailing by 1 point from clubmate Kristyl Smith but dominated the eliminator format winning all 3 races in flat and hot conditions. In the final race, she broke the field with an extraordinary run leg between the swim and board legs. Kristyl Smith finished in 4th but claimed the series runner up title for the 6th time with Courtney Hancock rounding out the top 3 for a BMD Northcliffe Series Trifecta. Also in the top 10 with automatic qualification in to next series were BMD Northcliffe's Harriet Brown in 7th place and Bonnie Hancock in 10th place.

In the mens race, it was a changing of the guard with Shannon Eckstein's brother, Caine, dominating round 6 to also claim the overall series title. Shannon finished in 3rd place overall with Zane Holmes in 5th place.

For Round 6 Results Click Here

For Overall Series Results Click Here

Bonnie's Podium Performance

A big congratulations to Bonnie Hancock for her maiden podium result finishing 2nd  in round 5 of the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Ironwoman Series at Coolum. It was Bonnie's best performance of an otherwise dissapointing season so far but she used that dissapointment to triumph yesterday. The result also puts her back in to contention for automatic qualification for next season's series. A good result in the final at Noosa will see her back in the top 10. Kristyl Smith was once again on the podium with a 3rd placing after fighting off clubmates Courtney Hancock & Elizabeth Pluimers and Noosa's Jordie Mercer, in a 4 way sprint to the line. Courtney ended up in 5th with Elizabeth in 6th. Kristyl now reclaims the black togs leading the overall series by 1 point in to the final race at Noosa this weekend. 

In the men's race there were more sprint finishes with the top 6 placing being decided in 2 way sprints. Shannon Eckstein was just pipped on the line for 3rd place by his brother Caine and Zane Holmes out-sprinted overall series leader, Ali Day to claim 5th place. It will be a tough ask, but not impossible, for Shannon to defend his series title, currently sitting in 3rd place, 12 points behind Ali. If Shannon could break through for his first win of the series in the final race, Ali finishes outside the top 7 and Shannon's brother, Caine, finishes out of the top 3, Shannon will claim the series.

For full round 5 results click here.

For overall series results click here.