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

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.

Pluimers Back in Black

It never seemed likely after her dissapointing race at Portsea in Round 2, but Pluimers is back in the black togs after claiming victory in Round 4 of the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Series in Perth on the weekend. After Courtney bombed out in Newcastle, Kristyl took over the leaders jersey but was unable to consolidate the lead in Round 4 being the marathon format with an 11th place. Courtney Hancock bounced back from her dissapointing result in Newcastle to be back on the podium with a 3rd placing. Kirsty Holmes continued with her recent form to claim another 5th placing, with the always consistent Harriet Brown in 7th. 

In the Men's race, Caine Eckstein was always the red hot favourite for the marathon format and claimed a convinsing 2nd victory of the series. Shannon Eckstein was very happy with his result placing 3rd in his least favourite format and Cory Hill had his first top 10 finish with an 8th place. Shannon now sits in 3rd place overall in the series still in contention.

For a full list of the women's results click here.

For a full list of the men's results click here.

Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Series - Rnd 3

Kristyl Smith & Zane Holmes made it a BMD Northliffe double for Round 3 of the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Series in Newcastle. Big seas, strong winds and even marine life made for some exciting racing. Kristyl, who hadn't been off the podium so far in the series, climbed to the top for the first time ahead of Elizabeth Pluimers. Kristyl also claimed the overall series lead after Courtney Hancock lost her ski and finished 19th in the first race relegating her back to 3rd place on the leader board behind Kristyl and Elizabeth. Veteran, Kirsty Holmes, demonstrated her experience finishing in 5th, her best result so far for the series with Harriet Brown in 7th. 

In the men's race, Zane Holmes was the lone BMD Northcliffe representative in the final with Shannon Eckstein just missing out with a 9th place after being knocked of his ski several times. Zane went on to claim his first victory of the season and move further up the leader board in the overall series. 

Close examination of the television footage revealed a pilot whale rounding the cans in the final girls race. With a shark attack at nearby Redhead Beach just days before, people were quick to speculate that it was a shark.

Round 4 heads to Western Australia on the 29th January where they'll take on the Marathon format.

For the full women's results from Round 3 click here.

For the full men's results from Round 3 click here.

Courtney Overcomes Portsea Carnage to Claim Second Win

While Portsea didn't live up to its usual reputation for huge seas, it certainly threw up enough to cause some carnage in Round 2 of the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Ironwoman Series on the weekend.

Race 1 of the double sprint race ran smoothly with Courtney taking it out ahead of clubmates Liz Pluimers and Bonnie Hancock.

Race 2 saw Liz Pluimers take a commanding early lead with a strong first board leg only to be pegged back at the conclusion of the board leg when several competitors pulled down a large wave behind her. Leading in to the final ski leg BMD Northcliffe were looking good with Liz, Courtney and Kristyl Smith in the top 3 until a nasty collision in the shore break saw all 3 lose their craft and relinquish their lead. Kristyl and Courtney managed to catch back up to 3rd & 4th place respectively but for Liz Pluimers, who fared the worse from the earlier collision,  her Portsea curse from last season continued, ending up in 20th.

This dissapointing finish added with her 2nd place in race 1 meant that she ended up in 11th place for the round. Courtney's 1st & 4th gave her the overall Round win to make it two from two in the series and Kristyl Smith finished with another 3rd place. Other BMD Northcliffe athletes to finsh in the top 10 were Bonnie Hancock in 6th and Harriet Brown in 8th.   Courtney now has a comfortable lead in the overall standings with 50 points followed by Kristyl in 2nd with 40 points and Liz Pluimers in 3rd with 32 points.

In the mens race, Shannon Eckstein showed he was re-gaining form, claiming a win in the 3rd and final mens race. A 4th and a 5th placing in the earlier races meant that he was back on the podium for Round 2 with a 2nd placing behind Kurrawa's Ky Hurst. The mens overall pointscore still remains tight with only 5 points seperating the top 6 competitors. Shannon sits in 4th place, 3 points off the lead.

Round 3 heads to Newcastle on the 22 January for the eliminator format. 

Click here for Round 2 - Male Results

Click here for Round 2 - Female Results

Click here for overall Male Standings after Round 2

Click here for overall Female Standings after Round 2

Click here to visit the Surf Ironman Series website

Click here to check out the carnage from the womens race