AFTER FOUR ROUNDS: Beth Lee, Simon Lee and Hannah Clarke brought home a tube rescue silver medal from the final round of the NSW IRB Premiership Series.
FORSTER Surf Club’s Beth Lee, Hannah Clarke and Simon Lee (patient) have returned from the fourth and final round of the NSW IRB (Inflatable Rescue Boat) Premiership series with a silver medal in the tube rescue.
More than 30 competitors from 20 clubs competed in the fourth round, held at North Wollongong, which decided the champions of each division.
The silver medal was a reward for consistency across the four rounds and the result of some tough training and dedication according to club president John Quinn.
“It was a great effort and shows that hard work does pay off.”
Forster battled it out against some of the state’s top clubs with South Maroubra, North Cronulla, Kiama Downs, Thirroul, Caves Beach and Catherine Hill Bay showing good form in the various categories and taking most of the top placings going through to the quarter finals and semi-finals. The ladies also excelled in the ladies team event finishing the day with a sixth placing and looking good for improvement for the State Championships.
This event saw a new crew member with Elizabeth Fletcher Jones taking over from the injured Keely Quinn to team with the experienced Beth Lee, Hannah Clark and Alanna Quinn who were all members of last year’s gold medal winning team.
Simon Lee and Mark Cerezo had performed well during the series in the mass and open rescue events but could not follow up their great performance in round three at Forster to secure a finals berth.
Simon and Adrian Futterleib put in a great effort to finish in the open male tube rescue heat with a good swim by Adrian and hard work from patient Mark Cerezo.
In the over 35s Simon Lee and John Quinn were in good form and combined well to gain third place in the over 35 rescue event.
Patient Brianna Weir had her second taste of IRB racing and proved a welcome addition to the team during the day and did a great job in the over 35 tube race where John Quinn and Simon Lee made the final to finish sixth overall.
The strong performances also earned Beth Lee and Hannah Clark spots in the NSW IRB Train on squad and they will be pressing their claims for a berth in the final team to contest the interstate series at Ocean Beach on July 20.
The teams have now set their sights on the state championships to be held at Fingal SLSC on July 7 and 8.
