Fast Fives at Newport on 31 October – Round 1

SNB Branch kicked off the competitive season for opens with a new carnival concept,  the Bennett Boards Fast Fives series. Round 1 was the ALL ROUNDER, hosted by Newport SLSC, and supported by Bennett Boards. This event was run across two age groups – U15 & Opens. Racing involved Board and Ski events, with swims cancelled due to heavy surf. Newport was able to provide two water areas, male and female which provided some fast racing. In a show of how much surf lifesavers love to compete this event smashed all previous attendance records with 200 athletes representing 15 clubs across Sydney Northern Beaches, Sydney, Hunter and Lower North Coast Branches.

Newport Locals were treated to some spectacular racing in some exciting conditions which challenged even the best of the best. Analise Kibble, Emily Maythers, Jemma Smith, Madison Spencer and Emily Doyle dominated the open female with Mitchell Morris, Jackson Borg, Zac Morris, Bailey Clues and Jake Morris fronting the pack for the open males.

In the u14-15 age groups Ashleigh Windsham, Zara Foran, Elise Wallace, Tianna Emmott Bennett and India Hulbert showed some incredible talent to match the skills of the opens in the large surf. Conner Maggs, Joshua Kerr, Jack Johns, Lex Raffles, and Braden Crichton-Browne led their respective heats and made up the leader board for the u14-15 males.

Running these events in regular times is a challenge so a big thank you goes to Louis Tassone and his SNB Branch sports team for organising this event and the new concept. Newport’s own Maddie Spencer and Darren Warrener were instrumental in the organisation. Also thanks to Deb Doyle,  Brett Murray and Aaron Morris for their work as officials and COVID Marshals as well as Matt Edwards for the water safety and Chloe Van Dam for First Aid support.

The last race of the day was against the weather which carnival officials easily won!

The Board Master Round 2 of the Bennett Boards Fast Fives series is hosted by North Curl Curl SLSC on Saturday 14th November and will showcase some spectacular racing.