Etty Bay Surf Lifesaving Club members impress at the State Championships

Maria Girgenti

ARIANA Nucifora, Etty Bay Surf Lifesaving Club's Nipper of the Year, was the only Etty Bay Nipper part of the North Queensland Branch Youth State Team who competed at the Surf Lifesaving Queensland Youth State Championships held last month at Mooloolaba Surf Lifesaving Club, Sunshine Coast.

This was an incredible commitment from Ariana and her dad Mark, who travelled to Cairns every Sunday morning to train at the cable ski park, as well as Mission Beach during the week to train in the pool and with the Mission Beach Nippers, who were also on the team.

Nucifora, who competed in individual and team events, developed great skills, made lifelong friends, learned to deal with challenging conditions and competed against the best in the state.

These championships are the largest and most prestigious for Under 11 -

Under 15 age categories, where the finest talent from Queensland go headto-head.

This event showcases individual events from 1km and 2km beach runs, beach flags and sprints, Iron Person, and surf race and surfboard events.

It hosted qualifying teams from the Branch Championships for beach relay, surf teams, board relay and Cameron relay events.

The NQ Branch won two silver medals in the Under 11 Male and Female 500m Run and one bronze in the Under 12 Male Swim.

The North Queensland branch, made up of 35 members from Etty Bay, Mission Beach, Cairns, Port Douglas and Ellis Beach, finished 18 out of 50, which is their best result in over a decade.

Etty Bay had two Surf Boat crews travel to the Sunshine Coast to compete in the Queensland Surf lifesaving Senior State Championships from February 24 - 26.

The Under 19 Ladies crew of Rylee Jones, Ella Cook, Kari Cini, Kate Walker and Shayne Cini, as their sweep competed well in three rows, gained plenty of experience and learned areas to improve on for next season.

The Reserve Grade Men's crew of Martin Cook, Paul Rinaudo, Adrian Conroy, Jesse Witt and David Jones as their sweep had four rows and made the quarter-finals.

These crews trained over the holidays and off-season to compete at the State Titles.

These team members committed to training on the river and at the beach, and juggled work commitments, shift work, and university studies. When all else failed, they trained on ERGO rowers at one of the rower's residences.

They even attended a State carnival in Tugun before Christmas and gained practice with the surf conditions, as well as competed against other teams and other state teams.