40 competitors represented the Central Coast over the weekend at the 2019 NSW Interbranch Championships held at Bulli SLSC on the South Coast. In challenging and technical conditions, the Central Coast competitors put on a fantastic performance taking on the best of the best in NSW.
On the sand, the Central Coast Sandcrabs reached the magical 200 pts with four 1st places from Tahj Hamilton, Noah Nakagawa, Aymn Hamilton and Emelyn Wheeler in the beach sprint events. Ken Borgesson, Beach Coach said “it was very pleasing to see the Central Coast competitors go from strength to strength on the sand”.
There were many highlights from the weekend of racing, such as Zoe Clarke claiming the highly sought after Open Women’s Iron Person title. Mia Cracknell and Natalia Drobot claiming the top two places in the U15 Board Race. Our team did an amazing job navigating the heavy bank and fast moving water, including our youngest team members from the U12’s. The Board Rescue Relays were a big highlight and crowd favourite, which showcased the skill of the team holding some of the biggest waves of the day. The U15 – Open Women’s won their relay, our Men claimed third whilst our junior girls stepped into third place and boys in fourth.
The Central Coast team is well known for their supportive and encouraging team culture. The team’s senior captains were Bailey Johns and Natasha Marteene. The Junior Captains were Noah Nakagawa and Davara Marshall. The team had a great sense of team spirit and pride amongst all the competitors. “The feel within the team was awesome and very supportive” said team stalwart Jemma Smith.
The team finished in fourth place this year behind Hunter, Sydney and Sydney Northern Beaches Branches respectively.
The Central Coast Sport Development Program will continue to run for the remainder of the season to continue nurturing and developing the great talent we have here on the Coast.
Congratulations to the Central Coast competitors and a big thank you to the Interbranch team management!
