PORTSEA Surf Life Saving Club’s masters men’s beach relay team won a silver medal at the 2021 Australian Surf Life Saving Championships on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland.
Team members Brett Croft, Darren Kerr, Henry Kiss and Jim Unkles, pictured, also participated in events on the sand, with Kiss coming fifth in the 50-54 years men’s beach sprint and Unkles placed sixth in the 30-34 men’s beach sprint.
The team was also named the Life Saving Victoria Open/Masters Team of the Year in 2020 for its results at the state and national level.
“To win a medal at The Aussies is a huge achievement for us, we couldn’t be more proud of one another and to represent Portsea SLSC and all Victorian clubs,” Croft said.
“After Aussies was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19, we’re pleased to have sent Portsea’s biggest contingent of competitors in more than a decade, with 37 athletes representing in the red and white.”
Portsea masters competitor Anthony Purcell was 10th in the final of the 55-59 years men’s surf (swim) race while in the youth competition, Mackenzie Hunter made the semi-finals of the under-15 ironwoman and under-15 girls surf race, with teammate Genevieve Woolrich also making the under 15s semi-final.
The Aussies is the largest event on the Australian Surf Life Saving surf sports calendar, with more than 6000 athletes from 315 surf clubs competing in 480 beach and ocean events.
First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 27 April 2021
