The Sydney Water Surf Club Premiership is jointly hosted by Surf Life Saving South Coast and Surf Life Saving Illawarra. This exciting new series will be conducted over 4 premiership rounds this season, and will involve all age groups from Under 8's to Masters competitors.

Competitors and Clubs will be eligible to win over $25,000 in cash and prizes across 41 competition categories.

Round 1 - Sydney Water Surf Club Series - North Wollongong

It was a highly successful day despite the setbacks of rain and major problems with stingers. Entrants totalled 900 at North Wollongong for Round 1. Major problems early with a large number of nippers being stung causing a two hour delay in water events and their eventual transfer to Fairy Meadow Beach. Warilla blew the opposition away, particularly in the junior water events, ending the day with victory in 25 events. Bulli and Wollongong City provide major competition to Warilla, consistenly placing highly in most events.


Individual highlights included:

Warilla's Brittany Sharkey winning 4 events; along with clubmates Lauren Smith and Josef Tomljenovic each winning 3 events.
Wollongong City's Matt Heisley and Dean Buttell also picked up 3 victories each in their particular water events.
The battle for open honors was really the battle of Bulli; with Bulli quartet Wes Berg, Downie Langthorne, Andrew Wood and Greg Miller fighting out the finish in the open mens ironmen, board, ski and surf races.
Berg and Langthorne having the edge on the day picking 2 wins a piece, with Berg successful in the blue ribbon open ironman.

Round 2 - Thirroul Beach 7th December, 2002

A large swell and sunny conditions set the scene for a great days action in the 2nd round of the Sydney Water Surf Club Premiership at Thirroul.
Warilla after a huge win in Round 1 were looking to take a stranglehold on the championship with another dominating performance. They got off to a great start dominating the mornings nipper events, just as they did in Round 1. However the powerful Bulli senior squad came to Thirroul ready to take on Warilla, and almost pulled off a stunning upset. In the end Warilla held off Bulli's strong challenge to win the day with a 508 pts to 492 point victory.
Once again the Wollongong City team was consistent all day and finished 3rd on the day and remain third overall in the series. Host club Thirroul, made the most of their knowledge of local conditions to be the big improver, finishing 4th after an 8th place in the 1st round. The battle for honours in the open mens category saw a change in the series leadership, with Downie Langthorne of Bulli moving ahead of teammate Wes Berg in the chase for the $2000 1st prize. Both men had 1 win each, Berg in the ironman and Langthorne in the Ski race but Langthorne's consistency saw him move into the series lead by 2 points. The consistent Andrew Wood from Bulli remains well in the chase only a further 8 points back.In the Under 19's City's Matt Heisley and Warilla's Brittany Sharkey held on to their series lead with consistent days. Heisley was dominant again with 4 victories on the day, winning the ironman ,board, ski and surf races. Sharkey was able to consistentley score points despite the return of Australian rep Kristie Olgilvie. In the under 16's, Warilla's David Smith and Thirrouls Josh Minogue are locked in the tightest battle of the series with Smith holding a slender 1 point lead. On the beach the open womens field is providing a great battle and is shaping up as a virtual state final in each round. South Coast stars Melissa Hoar and Ashley Cheney are locked in battle in every event and are being closely pressured by up and coming star Melissa Howard from Mollymook. In the junior events Coalcliff's Samantha Hammond, Warilla's Lauren Smith and City's Dean Buttel all still remain undefeated despite strong challenges from the big Sydney clubs such as Cronulla and Wanda who are participating in the series.

Round 3- Gerringong Beach 4th January, 2003

Round 4 - Warrilla Beach 1st February, 2003

Final Club Pointscore

Download Final Club Championship Pointscore

Download Final Senior Pointscore

Download Final Junior Pointscore

Series Sponsors

__GARDNER ____RACEBOARDS