ASRL Selection Trials & Short Course Championships

Our U23's and Open Women took part in some high-quality racing at Queenscliff, NSW last weekend. Both crews raced for the honour of representing Australia on Friday, and backed up to race at the SLS Australian Short Course Championships on Sunday. The forecast was a mild 0-1ft building to 2-3ft by Sunday. We were pleasantly surprised with 2-3ft, which increased quickly to around 5-6ft.

 

Our U23's (Grace F, Tayla F, Ellyn S, and Ellie F) were amazing. This crew was a last-minute combination, with only 6-7 training sessions under the belt.

Three points separated the top 6 crews, top 3 were allowed to contest for Australian Selection. Unfortunately, our U23's missed the cut, but proud to make the top 6.

 

Controversy surrounded the Open Women cut which saw our Thundercrackers (Maggie C, Courtney O, Kate T and Jessica A) finishing 4th with only 1 point separating them from 1st place.

 

Sunday, the Thundercrackers qualified for their semi-final with 3 wins from 3 races, seeing them top of the leader board. The luck (or unluck) of the draw saw them miss out on the final due to negotiating the shallow bank. Short course doesn't allow for any stalling as there is no distance beyond the break to get back in the mix. Thanks to Aqua M, of our reserve women, for jumping into two seat for the day.

 

Some of our U23 ladies tackled their biggest surf to date, and rowed a fantastic race in their final to snag 2nd place, nearly beating the recently crowned Australian Representative crew of Glenelg (SA).

 

The Thundercrackers will shake off the disappointment of defeat with only a 4-day turnaround as they head back to Dee Why, NSW, this weekend to contest Round 2 of the elite surf boat event, Ocean Thunder.

 

 

(Photo credits - Darryl Bullcock)