Sport
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Dickens wins double Lennox Head play Ballina Shores United again at the Oz titles in rugby major semifinal prepare for semifinals
Lennox Head was too strong for Byron Bay in the weekend’s semifinal played at Quays Reserve, Ballina. Photo supplied Ben Dickens beat a top field and backed up his wins at the Australian titles. Photo Blainey Woodham/Surfing Australia Crystal Cylinders
Lennox Head’s Ben Dickens has repeated his double victory in 2017 with another flawless performance at Cabarita Point on the Tweed at the 2018 SAE Group Australian Surf Festival. Dickens was undefeated the whole event winning all his heats and dominating his competitors. He cloned his 2017 Australian Titles performance to go back-to-back in both the O/40s Men’s Logger Division and the O/40s Men’s Longboard Division. The ever-humble Dickens was stoked with his success and pleased to defend his titles. ‘I won the logging final in
the final five seconds. I was sitting in third position and a great wave came in with a very critical section at the start of the ride and I took a risk and went for it; that section was make or break and thankfully it was a make. ‘I focused on using the priority system to my advantage throughout the contest and I only caught a few waves each heat and made sure when I had first priority to select a good wave. ‘The pressure to defend my title was brutal and the competition was hard with great surfers but the waves were fun and it was a beautiful day for the finals with my young sons there to cheer me on,’ he said.
The Ballina Buccaneers and the Lennox Head Trojans will go head-to-head this weekend in far north coast rugby to decide who will play in the grandfinal against Wollongbar-Alstonville. The local derby was set up after Lennox Head had a convincing win over Byron Bay in the elimination semifinal 43–17 last Sunday. On Saturday Ballina lost to Wollongbar-Alstonville Pioneers 43–36, out scored six tries to five. The win put the Pioneers into the grandfinal playing the winner of this weekend’s local derby. The Pioneers are the competition’s minor premiers after losing just one game from 16 in the regular season.
They are also the competition favourites looking to win their fifth straight first-grade premiership in a row. The first grade game between Lennox and Ballina kicks off at 3.15pm at Crozier Field in Lismore.
Reserve grade The Byron Bay Rugby Club fared no better in reserve grade when their side went down to Mullumbimby Federal 32–17. The Lennox Head reserves played their way into the grandfinal beating Ballina 14–3. Ballina will play off against Mullumbimby Federal this Saturday from 1.50pm at Crozier Field for the right to play Lennox Head.
Rainbow Dragon
Club president Marc Patten gets a shot away in his final game as a player on the weekend. Photo supplied
Shores United first and third division teams lost on the weekend but have an upcoming chance of redemption, while the U/15s will play for a place in the final this weekend. The Shores U/15 first division side have never been in a semifinal and have not beaten the Lismore Rovers all season. But that all changed on Saturday when they earned 3–1 victory that sees them through to the major semifinal this weekend. The first division Brown Snakes went down 1–0 to the Italo Stars and will need
to find a way to score goals in their upcoming semifinal against Tintenbar. Shores third division travelled to Byron Bay and came away second best in a penalty shootout after the fulltime scores was locked at 3–3. The Shores sixth division took on Woodburn at home and provided a fitting sendoff to club president Marc Patten, who played his last game. The Shores old boys won 7–1 through a highly organised pass-and-run game. The club has two home semifinals this weekend!
Local triathletes third in Ballina
Lyn and Margaret snare pairs at Brunswick Heads boaters host regatta
True Wheel Cycles men’s relay team of Dean Cutting, Mick Donnelly and Andy Kean came third in the Ballina Triathlon Teams event last Sunday among a strong field of local teams in very wet conditions. Photo supplied
Open pairs champions Lyn Proudlock (L) and Margaret Darby at the Bowling Club. Photo supplied
Plenty of colour and grunt was on offer at the Dragon Boat regatta in Ballina. Photo John Napper/Action in Focus
Lyn Proudlock and Margaret Darby have claimed the open pairs championship at the Brunswick Heads Womens Bowling Club after beating Kerry Dexter and Lorraine McCormick 19–17 in the final. It was an extremely close game as Margaret and Lyn were leading by four on the last end, but Kerry and Lorraine were also holding four shots.
Monica Wilcox
It looked like a draw that would force a deciding end until Lyn used her last bowl to take out two of the scoring bowls giving her team a twoshot win. The win gave Lyn her first championship at the Club. In a semifinal for the Club’s triples championships Rosa Kinnear, Kerry Dexter and Lorraine beat Jenny Andrew, Marcia Crichton and Lyn Proudlock 22–15.
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Eighteen clubs from Camden Haven (NSW) to Redcliffe (QLD) competetd in the Rainbow Region Dragon Boat Cub’s August regatta in Ballina that marks the start of the 2018/19 season. The Shaws Bay course started out in brilliant conditions on Saturday two weeks ago, but by Sunday afternoon the southwesterly winds
played havoc with the races. The ever-popular community teams competition was held early and they were off the water before it got hairy. The Kyogle Hillbillies have now taken out a trifecta of wins in this event, but this time they had the Dirty Dogs snapping very close on their heels. Queensland won the state-of-origin and Nambucca/Camden won the sport women’s event.
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The Byron Shire Echo August 29, 2018 55