MAKING SPLASH AGAIN
A SHORT season has ended on a sweet note for Ocean Grove Surf Lifesaving Club, which dominated the state championships over the weekend.
In the titles, held for only competitors aged 12 or 13 at Warrnambool, Ocean Grove cruised to victory by racking up 181 total points, well clear of secondplaced Point Leo on 117.
Local clubs Anglesea (84 points), Jan Juc (83), Lorne (73) and Torquay (72) all finished in the top 10.
Ocean Grove junior activities manager Peter Walsh said a soft lead-in left him unsure how his club sat in the pecking order but he backed them in to perform.
The only other competitions the club has taken on this summer were at Mordialloc — an event where poor water quality kept competitors out of the surf — and at home at Ocean Grove.
“We were confident, but having not really had too many competitions before, we were unsure about where we sat but we were confident we would do OK,” Walsh said.
“It’s definitely a little bit more of a challenge to engage them (without competitions) but they are a great bunch of kids and the program we run weekly gets them into the water and gets them ready.
“I was confident that they would do well. They are a pretty talented group of kids but it was certainly more of a challenge to know whether they would be raceready and race-fit.”
In windy conditions with an imposing shore break, the squad of just over 30 all performed, with every child making a final.
“The team performances were outstanding; there was a bag of medals across all the team events,” Walsh said. “It was just great to get everyone together again. I guess it’s 12 months ago really now when the world got turned upside down so to be here, we didn’t think we probably would have been.”