The Professor on Top after 3 Rounds

Shannon "The Professor" Eckstein is back to his best, leading the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Ironman Series. Shannon had a victory in Round 1 in Perth, a 3rd in Newcastle and then claimed victory again on the weekend at Portsea in the Triple Sprint Format. Shannon shared the leaders jersey with Matt Poole after Round 2 but now sits on top, 32 points in front of Ali Day. Mitch Miller, has remained consistent throughout the first 3 rounds despite slicing his toe on the starting ramp at Newcastle. Mitch currently sits safely in the top 10 in 7th place. Rookie, Jake Nicholson sits in 16th place and Cory Hill is yet to get on the board due to injury ruling him out of the first 3 rounds.

In the Telstra Ironwoman Series, Courtney Hancock remains consistent with a 2nd in round 1, 4th in round 2 and another 2nd place in Portsea. She currently sits in 3rd place on the progressive pointscore.  Harriet Brown is sitting in 6th place overall after her 4th placing at Portsea bumped her up a few positions. Bonnie Hancock is currently in 12th after competing on an injured foot at Portsea.

The Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Ironman Series and Telstra Ironwoman Series heads to Queensland for the final 3 rounds on consecutive weekends commencing Saturday 9 February at Surfers Paradise.

For information go to http://surfironmanseries.com/

and http://surfironwomanseries.com/

2012 World Champions!!!

After 6 days of grueling competition, BMD Northcliffe have come out on top of the World at Rescue 2012 in Adelaide. It was only on the final day of competition that BMD Northcliffe claimed the lead for the first time after Italian club Rane Rosse Aqvasport and German Club DLRG Halle-Saalekreis dominated in the pool events. BMD Northcliffe were in 4th after the pool events with Kristyl Smith claiming silver in the Open Female 200m Obs, Andy McMillan Bronze in the Open Male. Our 4 x 50m Obs teams both medaled with our girls taking silver and our boys bronze.  Some valuable points were also earned by both individuals and teams making A & B Finals. In the Youth Competition, Eliza Smith claimed a gold and a world record in the U20 200m Obs.

Day 1 of the Ocean Competition saw BMD Northcliffe drawing back the massive lead that the two European clubs had amassed with Dev Lahey and Shannon Eckstein taking gold & silver in the Open Male Surf Race and Kristyl Smith & Courtney Hancock claiming gold & bronze. In the Youth Competition, Eliza Smith continued her winning form claiming gold in the U20 Female Surf Race while her boyfriend Daniel Booth claimed silver in the Male Surf Race.

On day 2 of Ocean Competition both our Open Male & Female Rescue Tube Rescue teams claimed silver narrowly missing gold. Cory Hill claimed silver in a hot field of ski paddlers. Shannon Eckstein cruised to victory in the Open Male Board Race while Kristyl Smith claimed another gold in the Open Female Board being joined on the diace this time by Harriet Brown in 3rd place. Special mention to our beach relay teams who headed to Glenelg for the twilight beach events after a full day of competition at Christies Beach. Ours boys finished 5th and our girls 9th - a valuable 21 points!  

On the final day, BMD Northcliffe had clawed their way back to just a 119 point deficit with Board Rescue, Ironperson and Taplin finals remaining. Max Beattie & Mitch Miller powered home to claim victory in the Open Male Board Rescue while our female teams went 1, 2 with the Hancock sisters claiming gold and Kristyl & Harriet claiming silver. Shannon claimed his 4th World Ironman crown with Mitch Miller taking silver and Courtney Hancock finished with bronze in the Ironwoman. In the Male Taplin Relay BMD Northcliffe claimed silver in a 3 way sprint finish and our girls also claimed silver. Our depth was on display in the Taplins with our B Teams in both the male and female finishing in 4th. In Youth competition Jake Nicholson & Eliza Smith claimed bronze in their U20 Ironperson events and our boys fished 3rd in the Taplin Relay.

Overall, it was BMD Northcliffe in 1st on 775, 93 points ahead of Rane Rosse Aqvasport in 2nd and DLRG Halle-Saalekreis holding on for 3rd. In the Ocean Pointscore the margin was far greater with BMD Northcliffe 338 points ahead of Mooloolaba with Kurrawa in 3rd. Special mention to our U20s who finished 3rd Overall and 3rd in the Ocean Competition with only 6 competitors!

For a full list of BMD Northcliffe Results Click Here.  

The Team: 

Male: Shannon Eckstein, Mitch Miller, Cory Hill, Tate Smith, Dev Lahey, Andy McMillan, Max Beattie, Kevin Morrison, Trent Grimsey, Stefaan Demopoulos
Female: Kristyl Smith, Courtney Hancock, Bonnie Hancock, Harriet Brown, Casey Leo-Litzow, Miranda Bell, Christina Ruiz, Maddison Boon, Jess McDonnell, Ash Adams

BMD Northcliffe Kiwi's Triumph Over Aussies

The New Zealand Black Fins have delivered a massive upset to defeat the Australian Team by 80 points at the World Surf Life Saving Championships in Adelaide. The Kiwi's had a convincing lead after the pool events but continued their good form in the ocean, easily holding off the Aussies for the first time in 14 years. The New Zealand Team included BMD Northcliffe members Kevin Morrison, Max Beattie & Andy McMillan who all contributed greatly to the teams success.

Australian Team Captain, Shannon Eckstein, did his best to peg bag the points in the ocean with dominant performances to win the Ironman, Ski Race, Board Race & Surf Race. Others to taste individual success were Miranda Bell claiming the Open Female Surf Race and Kristyl Smith the Open Female Board Race.

The Australian U20 Team, coached by BMD Northcliffe Head Coach Barry Newman, turned the tables on New Zealand claiming victory over the Kiwi's in the Youth Competition by 70 points. Standout BMD Northcliffe performers were BMD Northcliffe's Stefaan Demopoulos (AUS) who claimed 5 gold and a silver and Cory Taylor (NZ) who claimed 5 gold, a silver and a bronze.

A small contingent of BMD Northcliffe Masters made the trip to Adelaide to compete in the World Masters Championships. Standout performers were Stephen Fry with 6 Gold and a silver and Anna Ballara with 3 gold, 4 silver and a bronze.

For a full list of BMD Northcliffe's International Teams and Masters Competition Results, Click here.

Interclub competition begins tomorrow with 3 days in the pool followed by 3 days in the surf. BMD Northcliffe's open team will go in as favourites to retain the World Interclub Crown. Stay tuned for more results. 

Gold Coast 600 - thrills & spills

Shannon Eckstein showed why he should stick to the surf after a test run with Mark Winterbottom before the start of last weekend's Gold Coast 600. The car was left with a few bumps and bruises but luckily no-one was hurt and Shannon can concentrate on what he does best - speed on the sand and in the ocean......



Shannon also teamed up with fellow Kellogg's Nutri Grain Series members - Bonnie Hancock, Harriett Brown and Mitch Miller for a board session with Mark and co-driver Will Power. Fortunately, no craft was hurt during the training.  

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