Annual Awards 2023

Published: June 01, 2023

Great turnout for the Annual Awards Night last Saturday with around 170 people coming along to celebrate season 2022-23. Congratulations to everymembers for your outstanding effort throughout the season. The key highlights from the night are summarised below.

We had four members who completed over 100 patrol hours. Congratulations to Skye Wildman, Logan Pieters, Jodie and Anthony Waring.  Simon Samuels who is only in her second patrol season was named the winner of the Frank Wood Memorial Trophy for Best Radio Operator, recognising her efforts in the radio tower.

This year’s winners of the Best Cadet Award went to Ellie Kvassay while the Most Promising Junior Patrol award winner was Skye Wildman. Both young women have shown a huge dedication to patrolling and the club throughout the season.

We could not split the Most Promising New Member Award with Kimberley Humphries and John Feeney taking out the award. Both members were recognised for their outstanding efforts on patrol.

Congratulations to Oliver Sweetman for a being recognised as the Trainer of The Year and to Ernie Burrows for Assessor Of The Year. Ernie has been involved in almost every course assessment this season and Oliver is showing great potential as our youngest trainer.

Well done to Lachlan Andrews for a fantastic season winning the Board Riding Award which recognises the most outstanding board rider of the competition season. The Surf Sport Spirit award recognises a member for dedication to training and persistence throughout the year went to Jake Harris the winner this year who only began learning to paddle a racing mal two seasons ago.

This year’s recipient of the Sand and Surf trophy, which epitomises outstanding carnival performances, was Bruce Dunne. Bruce was recognised for his outstanding eight consecutive gold Aussie titles. Lachlan Andrews was also recognised in the IRB arena taking out the IRB Racing Team Trophy. The Surf Boat Captain’s Trophy went to the U23 Crew of Aqua Meanie, Eleanor Bartens, Grace Floyd, Tayla Fox and Sweep Dave Tomba while the Michael Rutledge trophy for excellence in the surf boat section went to Kate Tomba for going above and beyond in the surf boat section and working tirelessly behind the scenes.

Congratulation to everyone who competed in the club titles and to the individual category winners. U15M: Robert Andronico, U19F: Skye Wildman, 20-29 M: Nic Lowe, 30-39 M: Jake Harris, 40-49 F: Linda Barnes, 40-49 M: Steve Stockley & Greg Woodward, 50-59 F - Janine Keating, 50-59 M: Jarrod Sweetman and 60+: Ian Norman. Anthony Waring was crowned the Kennedy Cup Handicap Swim winner after a tight battle with Delaney Rowe and Riccardo Cornacchia rounding out the top three for the season.

The hotly contested Acer Cameron award was taken out by our very own surf coach Nic Lowe with last year’s winner Isaac Ruscoe coming in second, Steve Stockley taking out third and Brendan Riley-Cush rounding out the final in fourth place.

The prestigious Dick Lugge Best Patrol Member went to Delaney Rowe. Del is an all-rounder who has clocked up hours and hours of water safety, taken on extra patrolling shifts, dealing with gear repairs and when help is needed for BBQs, events, clean-ups, audits he consistently puts up his hand. This season Del stepped up as Patrol Captain, this is in between regular board training sessions, at the Kennedy cup swim or enjoying catching waves on the racing mal with fellow members.

The Sting Zillman Award for Services to Surf Sports went to Emma Rahui recognising her long-term commitment to surf sports. Emma has been involved in surf sport as a Masters competitor since 2016, achieving podium finishes in Branch, States and Aussies, recently taking gold in the 45-49 female beach sprint final and silver in the relay with bronze in the board relay at the State Titles. She assisted for many years with carnival nominations and has been instrumental in with Nippers - coordinating teams, officiating, water safety at nippers.

This year the clubs highest annual honour, the Dave Cush Meritorious Award, went to one of our long serving members, Chris Atkinson. Chris is a quiet achiever who has clocked up 25 years of service and over 1,400 patrolling hours. As an IRB driver and jet-ski operations driver Chris plays a key role in keeping the beaches safe. He is also a keen Masters competitor on the sand, has competed in a number of Coolangatta Gold team events and has also provided coaching support in the sand area. Chris is currently Chair of the Gym Committee and a recent winner of the Sting Zillman Surf Sports award. Congrats to Chris on a well-deserved award.

We also had the privilege of presenting our three newest Life Member with jackets. Congratulations to Aaime Cush, Ernie Burrow and Peter Hopley on your long-term service to the club and life saving.

Finally, to round out the night the club’s first Life Governor was announced. Congratulations to Dave Cush who ,in his 60th year since joining the club, exemplifies what service is all about.  Receiving his Life Membership in 1974, Dave has completed over 3,000 patrolling hours, was President for 7 years, served as Secretary and Vice Captain, was on the Supporters Committee for six years and is our current Club Patron. And he is still active in patrolling leading the infamous Patrol Team 13.

Well done to Dave and thanks for your service.