Big swell caps off an even bigger year of WA surf sports!

A massive season of WA surf sports competition came to a head as our senior athletes battled it out last weekend at 2018 SunSmart WA Senior Surf Life Saving Championships at Scarborough Beach.

While weather on Saturday was relatively mild, ex tropical cyclone Marcus whipped up a solid swell for Sunday, the best Scarborough has seen in many years, which certainly challenged our athletes and provided plenty of spills and thrill in the surf boat and water arenas.

While Trigg Island ‘s dominance saw them take top honours in both the overall points score and the Handicap Shield, there were plenty of notable performances from individual athletes including City of Perth’s Jade Mickle, whose exceptional form across the weekend saw her take out the Open Swim, Open Board, Open Ski and Open Ironwoman events. Fellow City of Perth clubbie Tom Gallagher also capped off a successful Championships series adding wins in the Open Ironman, U/19 Ironman and U/19 Swim, to his Open and U/19 Belt Race wins at the recent SunSmart WA Rescue & Resuscitation and Belt Race Championships.

Other standout performances included;

• Will Savage (Trigg Island SLSC) – Gold in every event entered, including individual Gold in the U/15 Ironman, Swim and Board
• Maddy Thomson (Trigg Island SLSC) – Gold in the U/17 Ironwoman and Swim adding to the Open and U/17 Belt Race wins
• Charlie Rigby (Sorrento SLSC) – Gold in the Open Sprint, U/19 Sprint and U/19 Flags
• Gabby Murphy (City of Perth) – Gold in the Open Sprint and Open Flags
• North Cottesloe U/23 Crew – Gold in the Open and U/23 Boat Races
• Trigg Island – Gold in both the Open Men’s and Women’s Taplin Relays
• Teams from North Cottesloe also took Gold in the both the Lifesaver Relay and Boat Relay

With the 2018 Australian Surf Life Saving Championships returning to Scarborough Beach on the 14th April, WA’s top athletes are primed to perform on home soil.

Special thanks to Carnival Referee Sandy Clarke, and the many officials and volunteers across the weekend who made the event possible, and our Naming Rights partner Healthway, promoting the SunSmart message.