June Contest

June Contest

The Cronulla Sharks Boardriders took the first steps back to competitive surfing in NSW holding a hybrid style event just to get club surfers back in the water.

Surfing as a recreation was not banned during the Covid-19 Pandemic, but contest gatherings were and after working closely with Sutherland Council and Surfing NSW the ‘back to training’ edict led to the first sanctioned surfing event.

The announcement by the NSW Government concerning community sport for those aged 18 years and under from July 1, 2020, meant large changes to the format of how contests are run.

The boardriders club contest was not deemed competition, but a ‘club training session’ where all surfers only surfed once in a single age division as entered online on the ‘Live Heats platform- all heats were shown with start times, and surfers turned up, picked up their singlet and paddled out.

No surfer progressed to the semis or finals just surfing the one heat as listed and left the beach arena.

Heats were lengthened to 25 minutes where all waves were judged with top two scores in the heat and then compared against all in the same division- surfers top two scores created a leaderboard and the eventual winner of the division.

Each heat was filmed in a training session format for heat comparisons as well as a live single judge and spotter.

The contest area was marked out where social distancing was adhered to with a marshalling zone and judging tent. Contest singlets were rinsed in a cleaning solution.

CEO of Surfing NSW Luke Madden is also a member of the Cronulla club and used their competition format worked out in conjunction with Council Beach Manager Brett Richardson, Lifeguards and Government regulations.

“With some sports restrictions lifted, it was great to see our club committee work with Surfing NSW to create and adapt to a training style format that allowed the June event to run.

“Surfing NSW will keep adapting to the government rules and regulations passing all information on to all NSW boardrider clubs to return with council approval,” Madden said

At the end of the day, there were some winners with Hayden Blair scoring the top two waves in the Open division over Jay Brown who actually scored a 9.5 but no backup.

Ricky Marshall took the highly competitive O45’s, April Davey the Women’s, Oscar Cafe the U16’s and Kash Brown the U13’s.

It wasn’t ideal, but the surf was pumping and all club surfers were happy to get back onto the Surfing Sutherland Shire calendar -Elouera and Cronulla Girls Boardriders are next in line to work in discussion with Sutherland Council Beach officials.

Attribution: Surf Report with John Veage

Hi all Sharks Boardriders Members,

We have got approval to run our club round for this Saturday June 6th at the Alley.

Looks like there will be a few waves too!

Due to COVID-19 this round will be very very different to our normal comps.

Sutherland Shire Council has approved this comp for us but it will be run under strict guidelines as per the below download link and attached crowd mgt document which the committee will be ensuring all members and surfers adhered to. These are the guidelines to reduce gatherings and we really need all members to listen to this on Saturday.

Check out this document https://d1dxeappjj9zpc.cloudfront.net/asset/oTcJCpvOlZPnGTYYxS8OKsF4rXDQUFkJOd699yjH.pdf

As well as attached crowd management document below.

NSW Boardrider Clubs Club Member Crowd Management Document

The most important first step is that all who want to compete have to register by tomorrow 3rd June (Thursday) 5pm on this link https://www.liveheats.com/events/3357 no beach entries will be taken as we have to do the heat draws and schedule in advance and ensure that its all planned. Plus all members need to be financial online paid members.

Also you will only be able to compete in 1 division for this round. E.g. Juniors only in juniors not in opens plus there will be a set format and schedule we will stick too. The schedule will be different where divisions will run and finish back to back and not spread out throughout the day. Once your are knocked out or you finish your final we require you to head back home or go surfing somewhere else – we will post all results on Social media after.

You will just arrive surf your division and the leave – unfortunately we can’t have anyone hanging around that long before your after your heats.

The tents will also be set up in 3 areas as per the document attached and only 10 surfers can be in each area.

Here is a rough schedule – but will be confirmed times after we have all registered and work through how many in each division on Friday morning.

  • Bank A 7am start sharp
    • U16 run and finish
    • Open men run and finish
    • Over 45’s run and finish
  • Bank B 8am start sharp
    • U13’s
    • Open Women

We will also have info and a link for live heats on Friday emailed for all to check out and track results and exact time you are surfing on Saturday.

More info will be emailed on Friday lunch including the final schedule and times of the day as well as further information.

Unfortunately no extra family or friends who are not competing can come down.

We really need to show council we can manage this right.

Our July rounds as well as other clubs will be based no how we run and manage this so please stick to this information and listen to the committee.

In regards to judging and helping out we will connect you over the next few days specific help if we need you otherwise we have all covered. If you don’t hear form us and you are just competing just come down surf and when you are finished head home.

Small items of info will be posted on our socials between now and Friday. Please keep an eye on your emails Friday lunch.

Again please Register by Thursday 5pm then we will send you come more info via email on Friday!

Thanks in advance
Cronulla Sharks Boardriders Committee

If you have any specific questions please don’t hesitate to email sharksboardriders@gmail.com, instagram DM, or text Veage, Camo, Rich, Luke, Woofo or Jordan.

Regards,

Luke Madden
Chief Executive Officer
(02) 9349 7055 // 0419 773 656
PO BOX 4005, Maroubra South, 2035 NSW
www.surfingnsw.com.au