The State Championships continued on the weekend with the holding of the R and R Championships at Trigg on Saturday, where City competitors picked up a gold, two silvers and a bronze medal.
The first final held was the Under 19's. The City team of Emily Mackaway, Kim Lovett, Rosie Langdale, Janelle Slattery and Jessie Smith had won five silver medals in R&R up to this year, so they were keen to break through for a gold.
Things didn't exactly go to plan, though, with belt swimmer Kim getting snagged on some rocks during the haul in and taking an unscheduled trip to the bottom. But the event allows for unexpected problems like this, and Janelle was sent out with a rescue tube to assist. The girls eventually made it back to the beach and carried on with the rest of the procedure.
The training in handling the unexpected paid off, and despite that problem they won the gold medal and their first R&R State title.
The Under 15 final was next up, with the City team of Nikki Avery, Jess Cohen, Lizzy Langdale, Kate Dromey and Ashleigh Clarke. In a very close event, the girls finished with the bronze medal.
The Under 19 girls then doubled up to contest the Open Women's event. Although everything went smoothly in the water this time around, they managed to choose a bit of sand where a wasp was sleeping for the patient lay, and Emily was quite badly bitten. To her credit, she lay still and endured the biting insect for about ten minutes until the event was finished before heading off to the Trigg patrol for some ice packs. The girls produced a better score in this event than in the Under 19's, but it wasn't enough to take the gold and they had to settle for silver.
Last event of the day was the Open Six Person. With members returning to Queensland to live, retirements and the like our State Champion team of last year weren't around to defend the title. Instead the Under 19 girsl made their debut in this event, with coach and R&R veteran Jeff Scott filling in the sixth spot.
As first-timers in the event, the girls (and Jeff) put in a great performance to win another silver medal and take City's medal tally for the day to four - one gold, two silvers and one bronze.
