Cr Pontin will be at Cape Hawke Surf Club Forster from 11.30am for the launch of the Oakberry Acai NSW Country Championships to be held at One Mile Beach, Forster later this month.

Cr Pontin was elected MidCoast mayor on Wednesday, beating Crs Peter Epov and Kathryn Bell for the position. She was deputy mayor in the previous council.

MidCoast Council general manager, Adrian Panuccio also will attend the launch along with a host of surf life saving officials, including Surf Life Saving NSW surf sports director, Don van Keimpema OAM, Surf Life Saving NSW chief operating officer, Phil Ayres and Cape Hawke Surf Club president, Gary Curtis.

This is the first time for many years the Country Championships have been held in the Lower North Coast Branch, which takes in five clubs from Pacific Palms to Crowdy Head.

Organisers say the event is open to clubs outside the Newcastle-to-Illawarra corridor and is second only to the NSW Surf Life Saving Championships in size, with an expected 1500 competitors, 200 officials and around 4000 spectators.

It also will be the first time the championships have been held since 2020 because of the pandemic.

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