Sport
North Coast news daily:
netdaily.net.au
World champs headline Australian longboard open The Australian Longboard Surfing Open is a five-day celebration of the surfing lifestyle held in March each year in the warm, wave-rich waters of Kingscliff. Over the years it has been an excuse to get together with other like-minded surfers from around Australia, Asia, New Zealand, Europe and the USA. This year’s event has attracted the current crop of professional longboard surfing superstars including reigning world longboard champions Harley Ingleby and Chelsea Williams. Together they rub shoulders with stars from the early years like the world’s first-ever surfing champion, Phyllis O’Donnell, surf mogul Doug Warbrick and the godfather of soul surfing Ray Gleave.
Gold Coast surfer Chelsea Williams on her way to her maiden World Longboard Championship last year. Photo WSL/Will H-S.
As well as showcasing some of the world’s best longboard surfers as they com-
pete in the World Surf League (WSL) Longboard Qualifying Series (LQS). The event will
also feature surfing’s lifestyle image of art, music, cars, movies and more.
This week will see Williams hit the water to compete for the first time since the Final of the GoPro World Longboard Championships in China last year where she claimed her inaugural World Title. Williams is also the reigning Australian Longboard Surfing Open event champion and will be one to watch as action gets underway this week. ‘This will be my first event since winning the world title!’ Williams said. ‘I’m looking forward to competing in Australia again and catching up with everyone. ‘Hopefully there will be some good waves at Kingy so everyone is able to surf to their full potential. Being the world champ still sounds strange and feels surreal,
but nothing changed at all. I thought there might be a slight chance of getting some financial sponsorship, but so far it’s still the same. ‘I do get random moments when I think, wait, I’m the world champ and in those moments it feels pretty good.’ The event will run over March 25–29 at Kingscliff. More info available at www. australianlongboardopen. com.
‘If in doubt, paddle out’ – Nat Young
Mullum-Bruns play finals at home
Fundy for Cori
The Mullumbimby-Brunswick Heads Cricket Club are hosting the Far North Coast Coastal League Grand Final against Murwillumbah after beating Tintenbar in the semifinal last Saturday. After finishing the season in second place, MullumBruns played Tintenbar-East Ballina in the semifinal last Saturday at Stan Thompson Oval in Bruns. ‘We bowled them out in a rain-reduced game (of 35 overs) for 135 runs,’ said club captain Dan Raccani. The bowler did a real great job on the day with Adam Gadowski 3/14, Ben Forsyth
After being selected at the State Championships last year and competing in trials in Sydney, Cori Hardy has been selected for the U18 women’s NSW Blues Hockey Team to compete at the National Championships in Adelaide early next month. Cori will have to travel to Sydney every other weekend for training sessions, plus travel to Adelaide for the Championships April 6–17. On top of this, Cori has been selected to play in the State Championships in Newcastle and North Coast Open Girls team in Albury, both in May. Cori is a member of the NSW Accelerated Athlete Program (AAP), which means she is one of 60 girls in NSW to be selected for specialised training, up to three times a week by NSW coaches, and she travels to Sydney once a term for squad training. Cori competes for NSW State Athletics in long jump, triple jump, 100m, and both the 100m and 200m hurdles
2/16 and Luke Shelly 2/24. ‘Our top order all managed runs with a great performance by young Evan Litchfeild (29 not out), and our skipper Ben Forsyth (37 not out) guiding us home with five overs to spare.’ Mullumbimby-Brunswick 3/139 ended with a win by seven wickets and the lads now have a home grand final after minor premiers Terranora went down to Murwillumbah. The final will start at 1pm on Stan Thompson Oval and promises to bring silverware back to the local club for the first time in three years.
Club captain Dan Raccani is looking for a big finish for the 2015 season.
Getting their Shine on
and has been selected to play for Far North Coast Open Girls Touch Football. Cori loves all sport and is lucky to be naturally gifted in this area. She works at the Lennox Head IGA, attends Byron High School and along with her love of athletics is a keen surfer. Club Lennox are holding a bowling afternoon to raise money for Cori. It will be held on Saturday March 28 from 3pm. All money raised will go towards funding the countless trips to train and compete, with the ultimate goal of wearing the green and gold for her country.
Fraser leaves legacy for AIS
SPORTS RESULTS ARE POSTED ONLINE EACH WEEK IN ECHONETDAILY Find them under the Sport menu or go straight to this link:
www.echo.net.au/category/sport/results 42 March 25, 2015 The Byron Shire Echo
On Lofts Oval on Saturday afternoon the Mullumbimby Moonshiners will start their season in first grade against Lismore after many seaons competing in lower grades. This promises to be an interesting afternoon of sport – bring a picnic and a rug and enjoy!
The Australian Sports Commission Chair John Wylie AM said the Australian sporting community was deeply indebted to former prime minister Malcolm Fraser, who died recently. On Australia Day 1981 – when opening the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra – Mr Fraser said: ‘Coaches and athletes working together through this institute will, I’m cer-
tain, produce great things for Australia and carry Australia’s name high.’ ‘His words and legacy live on through the work of the AIS and the Australian Sports Commission’, said Mr Wylie. ‘From the disappointment of the Montreal Olympics in 1976, when Australia failed to win a gold medal, Mr Fraser’s government worked on restoring our national sporting pride.
Byron Shire Echo archives: www.echo.net.au/byron-echo