1/2 March 2003, Scarborough beach.
City of Perth reclaimed the Senior State Championship banner this weekend in a fantastic team effort which claimed nearly fifty gold medals for the club.
After outstanding results in the boardriding, Champion Patrol and Champion Lifesaver, the club went into the main weekend's competition holding a 41 point lead over Trigg.
Saturday morning kicked off with the best possible start, as Greg Tate, Steve Hopkins and Chris Timms took a clean sweep of the medals in the Open Belt. It was a sweet victory for Tate, who reached the cans first last year but was disqualified for failing to touch the can correctly.
In the Under 16 Ironman, Jake Cropper won the first of his eight Gold medals for the weekend, with Nipper James Cohen close behind in second place. Emma Wynne comfortably took out the Under 16 Ironwoman event.
In the Under 19's Jono Stock won silver, while in the girls it was another City trifecta from Alicia Marriott, Jacinta Marriott and Rebecca Cohen.
A strong finish from Ash Nesbit sealed a silver for the Open Men's Ski Relay team, while the Women's Ski Relay team of Kate Forgione, Lisa Oldenhoff and Alison O'Toole comfortably defended the title they won last year.
Kate and Ash then teamed up to defend their Mixed Double Ski title, but were narrowly beaten into second place.
Meanwhile in the R&R arena, the Open Men's team produced a vintage 3 point run-through to complete a hat-trick of Golds in the Men's Five Person event.
The Restricted Surf Race gave the young brigade a chance of a rest as Todd Pearson, James O'Toole and Luke Watson took the top three places.
The early afternoon again proved to be a crucial period in the Championships. While the Board Relays were running in one arena, the Surf Teams were on in the other. The efforts of our Under 16's and Under 19's (not to mention Club Marshalls Marcus O'Donoghue and Grant Trew) in getting from one event to another may well have been the difference at the end of the weekend. One more than one occasion competitors finished a leg of a Board Relay, sprinted to the start line of a Surf Teams race, then went straight to yet another swim or board.
The final results of their efforts were: Gold in the Men's Under 16 and silver in the Under 19 Board Relays; Gold and Silver in the Women's Open and Under 19 Board Relays; Gold in the Women's Under 19 and Men's Under 16 Surf Teams; Silvers in the Women's Open and Under 16 Surf Teams and Under 16 Board Relay; and Bronze in the Men's Under 19 Surf Teams - all achieved by about a dozen competitors, many of whom sacrificed their personal medal tallies to maximise the Club's achievements.
While not doing quite so much running around, the Open Men were still doing their part. Tim Trew, Steve Hopkins and Luke Watson won the Board Relay Gold for City for the first time since 1989. That was followed by the Surf Teams race, where the 'A' Team of Chris Timms, Todd Pearson, James O'Toole and Luke Watson finished 1,2,3,4. Just to show that we still have some depth, the 'B' Team of Greg Tate, Steve Hopkins, Andrew Young and Greg Mickle sealed the Silver medal by crossing the line in 6,7,8 and 10.
While the water competitors were packing up and heading home for the day, the Beachies were only just beginning. After a long day sitting around in the heat, they finally had the chance to show their stuff at about 3:30 in the afternoon.
For Dean Scarff, it was worth the wait. Competing in the Under 16's for the fourth year, and with a swag of silver and bronze medals to show for it, Dean finally grabbed his first Gold with victory in the Beach Sprint. He then teamed up with Iain Buchan, Luke Gillespie and Hayden Trew to take another Gold in the Beach Relay. Amanda England also won Gold in the Under 19 Women's Sprint.
Early Sunday morning it was time for the Surf Boats to swing into action, picking up a Silver in the Boat Relay.
While the Boards and Skis went through their heats, the Beach Arena took advantage of the fact that most of the competitors hadn't bothered to go home and finalised the Open Beach Sprints. The last City competitor to win the Open Men's Sprint was Leigh Buchan in 1982, and it was Leigh's nephew Shane Buchan who surprised (and annoyed) many up and down the coast by taking the Gold. In the Women's event, Amanda England won Bronze.
Steve Hopkins paddled to Bronze in the Men's Single Ski, and then it was time for the Board Rescue finals. It was probably at this point that City's lead on the pointscore became unassailable. From the six Board Rescue finals, City won six Gold, two Silver and three Bronze medals.
Meanwhile the Six Person R&R team couldn't repeat their performance from Saturday and had to settle for Bronze.
In the Under 16 Rescue Tube Races, City took the quinella in both events - Jake Cropper and James Cohen in the Men's, and Matilda Sydenham and Emma Wynne in the Women's.
Our March Past teams weren't exactly overprepared, but still managed to score Silver and Bronze in the Under 21 and Open events respectively.
Surf Races came next. Emma Wynne won the Under 16 Women's, and Alicia Marriott was second in the Under 19's. Todd Pearson and Chris Timms were first and second in the Open Men's. In the Under 16's, Jake Cropper made it more of a challenge by swimming around the Board cans but still manage to finish in the top six. James Cohen took the short way home to claim the Gold medal.
Back on the beach, Dean Scarff claimed another Gold in the Under 16 Men's Beach Flags, while Renee McCabe was second in the Open Women's.
In the Board Races, Jacinta and Alicia Marriott sprinted to the finish in first and second in the Under 19 Women's. Ben Carrick then produced an outstanding paddle to win a very tight Under 16 Men's race, before Jacinta and Alicia repeated their performance in the Open Women's with Julie Greenhalgh third.
Kate Forgione won her third successive Women's Single Ski championship, with Lisa Oldenhoff coming in third. Ash Nesbit and Steve Hopkins then combined to win the Open Double Ski Gold.
The 'A' Boat Crew suffered with injury just weeks ago, but new crew member Harry Parkinson jumped in and helped the crew to a Bronze medal.
Jake Cropper led out the Under 16 Cameron Relay, and the lead was passed on to Dean Scarff and Ben Carrick. Ben seemed to have it sealed on the board before the Trigg team picked up a tiny wave and they hit the beach together. Iain Buchan's outside position on the turning flag seemed set to cost the team victory, but he sprinted down the last forty metres to cross the line just in front.
The Open Ironwoman was an epic battle between Jacinta Marriott and Alison O'Toole. Alison hit the beach first after the final board leg, but Jacinta sprinted home to take the Gold on the line.
Luke Watson gave it everything in the Open Ironman, but an unfortunate tangle with the swim cans allowed Cottesloe's Brendon Sarson to get away, and Luke had to settle for second place.
The depth and talent of our girls was always going to make them hard to beat in the Taplin, and so it proved as we took first and second place. The Men's event was expected to be closer, but a great start from ski paddlers Ash Nesbit and Steve Hopkins allowed Chris Timms and Todd Pearson to start with a lead which they extended, leaving comfortable board paddles for Tim Trew and Luke Watson to take out the final event of the carnival by a big margin. That event gave Tim Trew his 20th W.A. State Championship, putting him into the Club's Top Ten of all time.
In the overall pointscore, City reclaimed the Surf Champions banner by a margin of roughly forty points. Jacinta Marriott, with nine Gold medals, was awarded the Bernie Kelly Medal for the outstanding competitor of the carnival.
The medal tally:
| Gold: | 48 | |
| Silver: | 33 | |
| Bronze: | 17 |
I've tried to give a mention to all the medallists - apologies if I've missed you out!
[States Gold Medallists]
[States Photos]
