Sport
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Young sprinter set Marielou dominates Red Devils beat Brothers for national carnival regional tennis Ross Kendall
Matilda is all smiles at the Olympic Stadium after qualifying for the NSW PSSA team to go to the nationals. Mullumbimby athlete Matilda Vial has qualified for the NSW Primary Schools Sports Association state team after running her best times at the national qualifiers. Competing at Sydney’s Olympic Park Matilda came fourth in long jump with a distance of 4.46 metres. She followed this up by
winning the 100m sprint with a PB time of 13.30 seconds. Matilda also ran fastest in the 200m with another PB of 27.06 seconds. She has qualified to be part of the NSW PSSA team to compete at the 12 Years and Under National Track and Field Championships in Darwin in September.
Byron surfers collect Australian titles
Mullumbimby Tennis club junior Marielou Baudoin competed in the Grafton Champion of champions and the Inverell Junior Development Tournament for 12 and under girls and has won them both without losing a set. ‘Marielou has had a very good year with results and has been consistent with her performance,’ coach Steve Gort said. ‘Marielou has matured and has trained at a much higher intensity this year and this is starting to tell in tournaments’ Mullumbimby team mate Onyx Cheung also had a good tournament, coming in third in the boys. ‘Onyx was hampered by a shoulder injury last year but has improved immensely these past nine months. He has now caught up to his rivals,’ Gort said. ‘He shares a real passion for the game and I really think if he continues to practise hard and keep playing
Try-scorer Kuyan Laurie on the charge last Saturday. Words and pics Deb Milgate
Double tournament winner Marielou Baudin has been dominating the junior development series. Photo supplied he and Marielou both have a very bright future in the game.’ Fellow team members Amadeus O’Connor and Elzie Bambach will join Marielou and Onyx at two more Australian ranking tournaments in late September.
Brunswick SLSC gives award for 200 hours of patrolling
Neil ‘Freddo’ Cameron getting chaired up the beach. Photographer: Blainey Woodham/Surfing Australia Crystal Cylinders Byron Bay surfers wrapped up two Australian titles over the past fortnight. Neil ‘Freddo’ Cameron won yet another national title with his win in the O/60s at the Australian Shortboard Titles at Duranbah Beach as part of the 2019 SAE Group Australian Surf Championships. Duranbah Beach turned it on with great conditions and hollow 1-metre surf. Cameron dominated the final from the start, clocking up a 13.75 heat total. This made it a clean sweep with his win at the NSW Over/60s titles earlier in the year. Along with his consistent success in surfing competitions Cameron puts a lot back into the sport as Byron Bay Boardriders president and his role over many decades as a mentor to a long linage of younger
surfers in the Bay. Byron Bay’s Mark ‘Mono’ Stewart and Dave Munk came first and second respectively in the Mixed (AS2 / AS3 / SUP) final at the Nudie Australian Adaptive Surfing Titles. Perfect 0.7 metre wedgy waves gave competitors the perfect platform to show their skills at Leticia Spit on the far north end of Fingal on the Tweed Coast. Adaptive surfing icon Mark ‘Mono’ Stewart was in first-class form, taking out the Mixed (AS2 / AS3 / SUP) division with two cracking waves, racking up a total of 16.25 points in the final. ‘It’s great to see Surfing Australia putting wave quality first over access to the beach and including us in the Australian Surf Championships. That’s a real step forward for our sport,’ said Stewart.
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Vanessa, Kieren, Benny, Jacqui, Kiri, Ella, and Elyse with their respective SLS awards. Photo supplied Guy Knox The Grey Shield was presented to Patrol Four for the second year in a row at the Brunswick SLSC presentation night held earlier this month. Two members of the patrol, Bryce Holmes and Igor Kocherga, patrolled more than 100 per cent of their rostered hours, while Bryce actually patrolled over 200 hours during the season.
Award winners Awards included: the Bruns Hot Bread patrol person of the year – Igor Kocherga; the North Coast Trophies best water
competitor – Rob Brown; best beach competitor – Vanessa Thompson; best craft competitor – Rob Brown and Paul Davis; best carnival competitor – Rob Brown. George Russo was named most promising junior and best cadet, while the training officer award went to Elyse Comeford and the Inflatable Rescue Boat rollover award was shared by Dave Rixon and Kyron Pinxteren. The junior club person award was presented to Kieren Nugent, while the senior club person award went to Paul Davis and the president’s award went to Damian and Amy Hopkins.
The Byron Bay U/18s won their minor semifinal against Marist Brothers 36–28, playing at Casino last Saturday. Bringing some confidence, but not complacency, to the match following their win over Murwillumbah the previous week, the Ben Webber Constructions Red Devils opened their account with an early try from team captain Charles Asser. Marist responded quickly with three tries, converting two to take a 16–6 lead. Some good passing and quick footwork saw two more Byron tries to take the teams to halftime locked at 16 all.
A fired-up Devils outfit scored three more tries, taking advantage of some Marist errors, seeing them lead 34–16 with 13 minutes to go. Marist weren’t giving up without a fight and added two quick tries, bringing the score to 34–28 with just six minutes remaining. But the Devils finished it off with a spot penalty to give them the 36–28 win. Tries to Charles Asser, Zac Smith, Brady Fuhrmann, Kuyan Laurie. Byron will be vying for a grand final berth at Murwillumbah next Sunday. They will take on Cudgen, who were defeated 26–20 by minor premiers Ballina last weekend.
Croquet club looking out for new members The Byron Bay Croquet club is one of the town’s oldest sporting clubs at 91-yearsold and is looking to grow membership. The club meets at their Tennyson Street clubhouse on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays and competes against rival clubs in Ballina for the district pennants competition. ‘In the past Alstonville and Lismore have played in the pennants but now it is just the two Ballina clubs and us. Murwillumbah moved into the Queensland competition,’ club secretary Lee Roberts said. The pennants are played from June till September and outside these times members play against each other or enter regional and state-based competitions. ‘We are down to 22 members while some clubs in Ballina have a hundred, so we are working to build up membership,’ she said. Novices are welcome on
Local croquet enthusiasts Max Donati and John Tann. Photo supplied Mondays from 3pm, and players are welcome on any of the other two days. Recently local player Max Donati entered the Swiss national golf croquet doubles and won the title. Also ex-Byron player David Hanbidge was the highest-performing Australian at the latest world golf-croquet championships in London.
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