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Tatum in U15 beach flags finals
Jake winning Silver in the U17 beach flags
Beach Sprinters
Newport Surf Club’s first two Australian Championship Gold Medals were won in the men’s Open Beach Sprint in 1948 and 1949 by John Harrison. However it wasn’t until 40 years later when former track sprinter and Senior sprint coach Martin Lynch began competing and coaching for Newport that the Modern Era in Newport’s Beach Sprinting began.
Open Competitors: The Modern Era....1990 to the present
The Athletes
Elona Reinalda
Originally coached by Martin Lynch as a track athlete, Elona Reinalda came to Newport as a junior competitor and immediately had an effect winning the women’s U/18 beach sprint at the Australian championships in 1994. She followed this up later winning the Australian women’s open beach sprint championship in 1998. Throughout the late 90’s she was a dominant force in women’s beach sprint events competing in the nutri grain series.
Elona also represented Australia in Athletics in the 200m in track and field and New South Wales and Sydney Northern beaches in Surf lifesaving. With her two Australian Championship Gold Medals as well as four Australian Silver Medals and numerous State Championships, Elona is our most successful competitor of the modern era.
Mike Wiener
Mike came to Newport beach sprinters as an open competitor, he was at this stage making a name for himself in athletics wining the NSW men’s 100m championship in 1997-98. He immediately made an impact making the Australian open beach sprint final in his first attempt.
Unfortunately Mike was hampered by major injury and despite successive surgeries was unable to continue beach sprinting.
1995 and 96:
Australian Championships Open Beach Sprint finalist.
Mike represented Australia as a junior in track and field as represented Sydney Northern Beaches in Surf lifesaving,
Tristan Conn
Tristan Joined Newport as a nipper, and took up beach sprinting as a cadet. He enjoyed success in 2000 as a dual world medalist in beach sprint and flags representing Canada. He continued at the international level at the goodwill games in 2001 and world championships in 2002. Tristan also enjoyed success in athletics teaming up with other Newport SLSC runners to win the Australian 4x100m open Championship in 2000 and placing second in 2001.
Tristan's major achievements on the beach for Newport were in 1999 when he won the Bronze medal in the Beach Flags at the Australian Championships at Kurrawa and his NSW Beach Sprint title the same year. Tristan was also a member of the Open Beach Relay team that won the Australian Bronze Medal in 2003. Tristan has made numerous Australian Championship finals in both sprints and flags and is still regarded as one of Australia's best Beach Flaggers.
Nathan Anderson
Nathan has been over the years a valuable member of the Newport of the Newport beach team. Nathan is a confident beach relay specialist and is an asset to have on the team. He was part of the Newport team to win the Australian athletics open men’s 4x100m in 2000.
Nathan also represented Australia in athletics at several internal overseas meets touring with the Australian athletics team and representing in the 200m.
Clayton Jones
Clayton was a successful beach sprinter and flags expert for North Narrabeen SLSC having won several Australian championships as a junior and cadet athlete prior to joining Newport. Clayton had trained with the Newport team whilst a member of North Narrabeen.
He had his greatest success as an athlete whilst at Newport when in 2001 – 02 he won the World, Australian, NSW and Nutri Grain titles in beach flags.
Clayton was also an accomplished track sprinter and was part of the team that won the Australian athletics open men’s 4x100m in 2000.
2001 -02:
World Championships Open Beach flags Gold Medal
Australian Championships Open Beach flags Gold Medal
NSW Championships Open Beach flags Gold Medal
Nutri Grain Series Beach Champion
Clayton represented NSW and Sydney Northern Beaches on numerous and competed internationally regularly. He was regarded as one of the best Beach Flaggers in the history of surflifesaving competition.
Ben Jones
Ben is Clayton's younger brother however you may never have known this as he stood head and shoulders above him. Ben was a naturally gifted runner with excellent style. Ben also came from North Narrabeen SLSC but with his brother and some others made the move to Newport.
Ben was a member of the bronze medal open relay side at the Australian championships, as well as making several Australian beach sprint finals.
2002-03:
Australian Championships Open Beach relay Bronze Medal
Stephen Hatch
Steve was also a North Narrabeen runner who moved to Newport with the Jones Boys. Steve has enjoyed much success at Newport, making several Australian & NSW sprint finals over the years. Steve was also a successful track runner being part of the team to win the Australian athletics open men’s 4x100m in 2000.
Steve has represented NSW and Sydney Northern Beaches in Surf Lifesaving.
2002-03:
Australian Championships Open Beach relay Bronze Medal
Brad McNicol
Brad came to Newport as a champion 100m sprinter having represented NSW regularly in sprints and relays. He was a member of Australian Championships Open Beach relay Bronze Medal in 2003.
Brett McPherson
Brett was the fourth of the runners to come to Newport with the Jones boys, Brett made an Australian open final prior to joining the team. He was always a handy relay runner to have on the team, he was part of the team to get Australian Championships Open Beach relay Bronze Medal.
Brett was also an accomplished track runner on a national scale and was
part of the Newport team to win silver at the Australian championships in the 4x100m in 2001.
Emma Lincon-Smith
Emma came to Newport from Freshwater surf club having had won an Australian Championship title as a cadet she continued to have success at Newport making the Australian U/19 women’s sprint final in 2004 finishing with the bronze medal.
Emma is still a member of the team and training with the team whilst in Australia. She is now a member of the Australian winter sports team competing internationally in the skeleton event. She has had great success in this and is a regular on the podiums of World Cup events and finished 5th in the 2009 World Championships.
Jake Lynch
One of the newest members of the team and the latest to taste success, Jake is a local Newport boy and the son of Head Coach, Martin Lynch.
Jake came through the ranks of the nippers. After some consistent results, Jake lifted his performance level in 2008 to win the U/17 Beach flags Australian Championships in Perth.
Jake has a great future in beach sprints ahead of him and I am sure that we will see further successful results from Jake.
Jake has represented NSW in track and field and NSW and Sydney Northern Beaches in Surf lifesaving.
2008:
Australian Championships U/17 Beach flags Gold Medal
NSW U/17 Beach flags Silver Medal
NSW U/17 Beach sprint Bronze Meda
QLD U/17 Beach Sprint Gold Medal
2009:
Australian U/19 Beach Flags Bronze Medal
Australian U/19 Beach Sprint Final
NSW U/19 Beach Flags Gold Medal
NSW U/19 Beach Sprint Gold Medal
NSW team member Gold Medal Australian Interstate championships Australian High Performance SquadTatum Ansiewicz
Tatum is another local to come through the ranks of the nippers, in her first year of senior competition she medaled in the beach flags and made the final of the sprint at the Australian Championships. Tatum has a bright future ahead of her in the coming years and should be a name to look out for.
2007-08:
Australian Championships U/15 Women’s Beach sprint Bronze
Australian Championships U/15 Women’s Beach flags final
2009:
Australian Championships U15 Womens Beach Sprint Final
NSW team Member Gold Medal Australian Interstate Championships
Ben Ambrose
2009:
Australian Championships U/15 Beach sprint Silver Medal.
All the Newport Beach athletes of the modern era were members of the highly distinguished Lynch Dental Sprint Squad, coached by international Track and Field and High Performance Surf Life Saving coach Martin Lynch. A number of other champion athletes have competed for the Newport Beach Team in recent years. These include Jeremy Rolleston, who represented Australia in the Winter Olympics in bobsled, 5x Australian beach flags champion Michelle Garnett, champion decathlete Carl Silvestro and beach flag champion Grant Currie to name a few.
Ben, Tatum & Jake
The Australian Championship Medalists
Gold:
1994 - Elona Reinalda - U/18 Beach Sprint
1998 - Elona Reinalda - Open Beach Sprint
2002 - Clayton Jones - Open Beach Flags
2008 - Jake Lynch - U/17 Beach FlagsSilver:
1992 - Elona Reinalda - U/18 Beach Sprint
1993 - Elona Reinalda - U/18 Beach Sprint
1994 - Elona Reinalda - U/18 Beach Sprint
1997 - Elona Reinalda - U/18 Beach Sprint
2009 - Ben Ambrose - U/15 Beach SprintBronze:
1999 - Tristan Conn -U18 Beach Flags
2003 - Ben Jones, Tristan Conn, Steve Hatch, Brad McNicol - Open Beach Relay
2004 - Emma Lincoln-Smith - U/19 Beach Sprint2008 - Tatum Ansiewicz- U15 Beach Sprint
2009- Jake Lynch- U/19 Beach Flags
The Masters
Our Masters Beach Event Competitors have competed in every Australian Masters Championship since it was introduced in 1991 and have never failed to medal at this level. Headed by Martin Lynch and Ted Smithies, the team has amassed at total of 38 Gold medals at National level and is regarded as the number One Beach Team in the country.