Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
World-class lifesaving stars will compete as Camps Bay plays host to nationals
KIRSTEN FLANAGAN is just one of the powerful Fish Hoek champion squad destined for gold at next week’s General Tire LifeSaving South Africa National Championships in Camps Bay.
Flanagan was also one of six women to represent South Africa at last year’s World National Championships in the Netherlands.
Camps Bay, for most of next week, will play host to the best of the best in South African lifesaving.
The Masters Championship is exclusive to the opening day on Wednesday, March 29, and from March 30-April 1 the country’s leading men and women in the senior open and juniors (15-19 years old) will take to the surf and sand to showcase their athletic qualities. The Nippers will celebrate their national championships at Port Elizabeth’s Kings Beach from April 6-8.
Fish Hoek won the overall national championship in 2016 and earlier this year extended their InterClub dominance in winning the 2017 Western Province Championships.
Flanagan’s impressive 2016 National Championship included gold medals in the Single Ski Relay, the Open Board Race and the Double Ski, in tandem with rising star Amy Hare.
Flanagan also won silver in the Board Relay and bronze in the Two Kilometre Beach Run, the Single Ski and the Iron Woman, where her clubmate Kim van Gysen took gold.
Van Gysen headlined the medal ceremony in the Open Iron Woman Division and Jayden Alford-Loots made it a Fish Hoek golden double with victory in the Men’s Open IronMan.
Fish Hoek’s 2016 and 2017 National and Provincial Championship glory has been huge for a club whose beginnings were humble.
You could call them the originals, the eight members of the 1st Fish Hoek Senior Rovers crew, who formed a lifesav- ing squad on Fish Hoek Beach. But without these eight there wouldn’t be today’s national and provincial champions.
Back then the equipment of these eight pioneers equalled an old rescue reel and line with a canvas and cork belt. Their clubhouse was a small hut located on the beach.
The hut is no more but the memory of the original eight will always be integral to the club’s evolution as one of the premier Lifesaving institutions in South Africa.
Fish Hoek needed in excess of 50 medals to be crowned national champions a year ago, and it will require their superstars to be at their best if they are to beat off the strong challenge from the leading KwaZulu Natal clubs.
Flanagan aside, Van Gysen and Hare are expected to be ever present in the medals and their efforts should be com- plemented by the anticipated performances of Alford-Loots, Luke Durr, Mark Keeling, Julen Rojo-Roos and the Nottens (Nicholas and Dominic).
Alford-Loots and the Nottens combined in 2016 to win Fish Hoek the Open Board Relay and Nicholas Notten claimed club bragging rights from IronMan Champion Alford-Loots with victory in the run/swim/run. He also represented South Africa.
The Billson sisters, Carmel and Lauren, will be at the forefront of KwaZulu Natal’s Marine Club challenge.
Both represented South Africa in 2016 and Carmel’s incredible 2016 season saw her claim a record 17 national titles.
The Billsons, formerly of Summerstrand, have been a revelation to the Marine Club’s Championship potency over the last few years.
The Marine Surf Lifesaving Club, in the Billson sisters, Sam Rowe and Paul van Achterbergh, had the most representation in the 2016 South African World Nationals Championship squad of 12, which comprises six women and six men.
TUKS Lifesaving, by way of Janke Grobbelaar, Christiaan Malan and Johan Lourens were next best.
The Western Cape and KwaZulu Natal traditionally have been the club powerhouses at the National Championships but the Eastern Cape always produces individuals who prove a class apart, with Kings Beach’s Daniel Jones leading the way in the Surf Swim and a contender in the Iron Man and Run/Swim/ Run.
Durban Surf ’s Tayla Gilmore is arguably the brightest star among LifeSaving South Africa’s youth and the stand out junior at the 2016 National Championships.
She won 11 medals, including four individual gold and three relay golds and won gold, silver and bronze at the Youth Interclub Lifesaving World Championships in the Netherlands.
Gilmore was one of eight Durban Surf junior members of the South African Youth Team who ranked eighth out of 22 national teams and won five World National Championship Medals.
Gilmore and Woodridge’s Amica de Jager, who in 2016 won four Female U17 individual golds, have the potential to be world champions.
● General Tire recently committed in excess of R5 million to a three-year investment in LifeSaving South Africa to complement their road safety initiatives with the crucial need for water safety.