HAVING dominated the sand and surf at home, several local athletes will now head east to take on the country and world’s best.
The Western Suns open elite team comprises the winners of each discipline of the 2018-19 WA Surf League Series based on points accrued across the three rounds, all from Sorrento, Mullaloo, Trigg Island and City of Perth surf lifesaving clubs.
From Sorrento, Jackson Symonds and Sydney Rafferty were the overall winners of the flags and beach sprint, with Symonds doing it undefeated, while Mullaloo’s Soraya Lee was the swim winner.
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Also undefeated were Trigg Island’s Daniel Humble in the ski, Ben Jones in the ironman and Nikita Fredonnet in the board. Fredonnet was also the ironwoman winner and though second overall in board, Kelton Mulvay has been included in the team.
And from City of Perth, Matthew Colliss was the winner of the board and Kiera Albertsen was winner of the ski.
The athletes will now compete this weekend in round 6 of the Ocean 6 Series at North Cronulla in NSW under the guidance of team managers Claire Rafferty, from Sorrento, and Surf Life Saving WA’s Andrew Mosel.
The six-round series, which started in October and runs along the east coast, will see athletes compete across six disciplines: board paddling, open ocean swimming, surf ski, taplin relay, beach flags, and the flagship ironman and ironwoman professional competition.
It also has a significant pool of prize money.
“Racing against the country’s best surf athletes is an opportunity not to be missed,” Humble said.
“SLSWA’s commitment to athletes’ development is making a real difference on the sand and in the surf.”
SLSWA has funded the trip.
The competition follows WA’s third-place finish at last month’s invitation-only Surf Life Saving Australia 2019 Interstate Championships at Sydney’s Newport Beach.
This included wins for Symonds and Scarboro SLSC’s Sophie Watts in the open male and female beach sprints, and Lee, who won the female surf race and the taplin relay with fellow Mullaloo competitors Harriet Brown and Neve Macleod.
NSW was the overall winner for the fifth consecutive year, followed by Queensland.