The Far North Coast capped off a strong performance at the annual Surf Life Saving Interbranch Championships on the weekend, by taking home the Country Cup for the second consecutive year and surged up the table to finish fifth overall.
The Country cup is awarded to the region that has the largest points tally over the course of the two day event. South Coast and the Mid North Coast finished second and third respectively in the overall country pointscore.
Josh Brown performed strongly in the water taking out the U19 surf event in challenging conditions before backing that up with a second place in the board event.
‘The swim was very tough as it was a high quality field, so I’m pleased to get the win’, said Brown.
‘The swell was a little challenging, but it was great to get a wave as it really broke up the pack a bit.’
Other strong performances came from Scott McCartney who took out open board, and Zoe Hughes who won the 14 girls board.
There were also a number of other top three finishes for Far North Coast throughout the Interbranch Carnival particularly in the U14 division.
Brad Hunt came second in the sprint, Josh Jones was runner-up in the surf, and the Cameron team finished third.
Luke Chaffer finished second in the U17 male board to round out a fairly strong performance for the branch in the water events.
The NSW State Team was also announced at the conclusion of the weekend’s competition. Far North Coast will be represented by Luke Chaffer (Cudgen Headland), Josh Brown (Byron Bay), and Ela Heiniger (Byron Bay).
Final Interbranch Pointscore:
Sydney Northern Beaches 1382
Sydney 1363.5
Central Coast 1265.5
Hunter 1182
Far North Coast 1053.3
Illawarra 768
South Coast 650
Mid North Coast 491
North Coast 453
Far South Coast 290
Lower North Coast 138.5