Gqeberha - Melissa Corbett struck gold for Durban Surf in the highly anticipated senior female flags showdown against Plett’s 19-year-old South African international Ellen Kleinsmidt and the veteran Ryle de Morny once again did the flags and sprint double for senior males.
Corbett and Kleinsmidt produced one of the big tussles of the three-day DHL LSA Surf National Club Championships at Kings Beach in Gqeberha, while De Morny, in the colours of Durban Surf, edged his long-time rival, friend and teammate Chevan Clarke in a tense final.
South Africa’s finest lifesaving talent was on display all week, with the nippers in the surf spotlight for the first three days and the Newton Park pool for the final three days. The juniors and seniors started with the pool competition and finished the final three days delighting the crowd with some stunning races.
Pirates’ Luke Nisbet added the senior board gold to his Iron gold, while Umhlanga’s seniors and juniors were sensational in the three-day surf competition.
Summerstrand’s Nippers, as in 2021, had no equal in the surf or the pool and combined for over 1000 points to crush the opposition, with the locals particularly dominant in the pool championships.
Clifton and Fish Hoek’s were extremely competitive in the nippers surf championship, with just four points separating them and they pushed Summerstrand all the way.
Summerstrand ended the surf championship with 515 points and the two Western Cape powerhouses Clifton and Fish Hoek tussled for second place, in which less than four points separated the clubs over three days of competition.
Clifton would end with 481.5 points and Fish Hoek would tally 478 points,
Fish Hoek, also fielding a stronger overall contingent after being depleted at the 2021 Championships because of Covid, were again strong in the juniors, along with Clifton, and the Fish Hoek seniors, on occasion, rolled back the years of their one-time dominance.
But nothing stopped Umhlanga in the senior and junior divisions, and, led by Tatum Botha, Saskia Hockly and Nicolette Challenor, the club topped the gold and silver medal table.
Botha did the double in winning the U19 junior Iron race and an hour later beating senior female favourite Amica de Jager in the senior female Iron race.
Hockly also won golds at u19 and senior level, doing the double in the single ski and Challenor was the fastest woman on sand, winning the u19 and senior beach sprint title.
Tuks, earlier in the week, were crowned overall junior and senior pool champions with 302.50 points, with Harties second with 284 points and Umhlanga third with 167 points.
The Tuks seniors were in a league of their own, totalling 174 points with Harties and Umhlanga tied for second with 38 points respectively.
Harties, though, showed that the future is bright with a compelling team victory in the age groups 14-18, scoring 256 points, with Tuks second (128 points) and Umhlanga second (129 points) and Tuks third (128 points).
Individually, Bloemfontein’s Douglas-Len Mac Kay was outstanding in the age group 17-18 and his 48 points over the course of three days was the highest of the competition.
Tuks’ Kendra du Toit was the standout female athlete, breaking an SA record and totaling 47 points.
IOL Sport