IRB Ocean Roar Series - Round 4 - Mooloolaba

Published: June 23, 2022 Last Updated: June 23, 2022

 

Mooloolaba turned it on weather and surf wise, with sunny days and flat water. This made racing extremely quick.

There were lots of events which the Team entered, including Open Surf, Mass Surf, Tube Swim, Teams Surf and Taplin Race.

 

DAY ONE (Saturday)

Driver - Caleb Thomas - and Crewie - David Corin - showed their skills in the open surf and mass heats, making through to the Semi’s later in the day.

Driver- Alastair McGregor and Crewie - Jason Brown - were pipped at the post in the heats by the much younger and faster athletes.  All of which were much, much younger (some what 40 plus years younger) than the veterans themselves. Nevertheless, they pushed the young ones and narrowly missed the chance to progress through to the Semi’s where they needed to finish in the top 4 and missed by one place. 

Caleb and David raced again in the semi’s but were knocked out of both events, in the same fashion as Alastair and Jason.

Caleb Thomas and Toby Andrews teamed up in the Tube race to make it through to the finals. Caleb took on the crew and swimmer role, showing off his swimming skills and placing trust in Toby as the driver. They finished 7th overall in the finals. Well done to them, as this is the first time they have entered this category of race.

Next up was the Rookie events. This event is for new drivers into the sport and are allowed to race as a rookie in this event for their first two years, before progressing to the opens or their age category. Brothers Toby and Lachlan Andrews teamed up to show the other clubs how it is done. They progressed through to the finals in both events.

 

DAY TWO (Sunday)

The Andrew brothers showed their skills in the Rookie events finishing 1st in the Mass Rescue Race and an 8th in the Surf Rescue. They went from 1st to 8th place – a result of a missed patient pick up, showing them the important of fine tuning their team skills. These boys are ones to keep an eye on over the coming years. Can see them both making the State Team down the track.

The old boys, Alastair, and Jason, raced in the finals of the 45+ Mass and Surf Rescues. They came away with a 5^th place in the Mass and a 6th in Surf Rescues.

The Team combined efforts with Mooloolaba, aka “Coolaba”, to make a team to race in Under 23s Male Teams Rescue and the Taplin events. The boys raced in the finals, coming away with a 5th in the  Male Teams and a 4th in the Taplin event.

The Team would like acknowledge the Coolum officials , Allison and Chris Smithies, Sharleen Swan, Greg Bott, Mark Quinlivan (Patient Boat Driver) and Leah Henshaw (Team Manager) for their assistance and efforts over the weekend. Without these people, Coolum IRB racing team would not be able to race.

A big shout out and thank you to New Sponsor "Signature Roofing". Dave Walker and his two boys, from the company, came down to Mooloolaba and showed their support to the Club and the IRB Team. It was great to have their support and some photos taken with the team. Thanks again Dave!!

The team is gearing up and getting ready to race the 2022 IRB State Titles at Coolangatta from the 1st - 3rd July. Keep an eye out for some posts over that weekend and send the team messages of support through Team App, as they would love to hear from you all. "Go the Ducks"!

 

Brief summary of results:

Rookie Mixed Surf Race - Toby Andrews, Lachlan Andrews - 8th

45+ Mixed Surf Rescue - Alastair McGregor, Jason Brown - 6th

Under 23’s Male Teams Rescue - Caleb Thomas, Toby Andrews teamed with Mooloolaba Team - 5th.

45+ Mixed Mass Rescue - Alastair McGregor, Jason Brown - 5th

Rookie Mixed IRB Mass Rescue – Toby, Lachlan Andrews - 1st

Under 23’s Male Rescue Tube - Toby Andrews, Caleb Thomas - 7^th

Coolum/Mooloolaba - Taplin - 4^th

 

Regards

Jason Brown