Coast takes bronze in interbranch championships

Challenging conditions faced the swimmers of the Central Coast Interbranch Team who contested the NSW Interbranch Championships at Cape Hawke over the weekend November 29-December 1.

The team of 40, ranging from Under 12s through to U17s in age, travelled by bus on Friday, November 29, to their accommodation and completed a final training session before competition commenced on Saturday.

Captains Eden Pearson and Zahra Green from Terrigal led their team to finish third place in the overall point score.

“I had the honour of being team captain and felt privileged to have that opportunity as I really got to bond with everyone in the team,” Pearson said.

“Over the three days that I was with the team, I got to know many of the competitors better than I have ever before.

“They were a great bunch of kids with a passion to do well in the two days we had to compete.

“Everyone embraced the team spirit by cheering for one another and singing the team song with pride.”

The event focuses on team bonding; the athletes showed up to support each other for both sand and water events.

The first morning of competition saw U13s Hamish Shorter win the gruelling 2km Beach Run and Jackson Eagles win the Beach Sprint.

U12 debutants Lucas Scott and Imogen Hyslop impressed with Scott winning both the Beach Flags and Beach Sprint while Hyslop took second in the Beach Flags.

On the water female Team Captain Zahra Green led the way, taking 3third in the Board Race and in a standout performance, winning the Ironperson event which included beating Sydney Northern Beaches star competitor Pipi Te Pania who has qualified for this year’s Shaw and Partners Iron Series.

The NSW Interbranch Championships are a tightly contested event however and every competitor is fighting for team points.

U15 Jasper Hunter stood up to be counted after a fellow competitor’s illness saw him being asked to contest the Ironperson and providing a solid result for the team to keep the points ticking over.

The team was well served by the U14 boys on the water with Billy MaCarthy, Ashton Bone and Samuel Wetti on or near the podium in every event contested with MacCarthy winning the Ironperson.

U13 Stella Webster also made a maximum point contribution with a win in the Surf Race.

Back on the sand, U17 senior competitors Finn Robertson and Tahlia Goy kept the momentum going with Robertson taking first in the Beach Flags while Goy took second in Beach Sprint and 3third in Beach Flags.

At the end of the first day the team was sitting provisionally on the podium in third place but with rival Hunter only 9 points behind.

Rough surf greeted the team on the final day of competition and with water team events cancelled it was down to a small team of beach competitors to hang onto the podium position with only the beach distance and sprint relays contested.

With the rest of the team cheering them on the Central Coast Team held onto the bronze medal position with just a three-point margin to Hunter in fourth.