TOM O’Keefe was going to quit surf lifesaving, then, significantly on Australia Day, he decided to give it one more shot.
It paid off on Sunday when the tall, Elouera surf lifesaver stormed to the front of a hot field to win his first state championship title — the open surf swim — at Ocean beach, Umina on the NSW central coast.
It was only the second gold medal in water sports on the final day of the three-day carnival for the four Bate Bay surf clubs after giant Wanda surfer Jay Furniss added gold to his silver (Under 19 ironman) and bronze (U19 board) by swimming away with the U19 surf race, with Elouera’s Kazimir Boskovic third.
O’Keefe, son of retired ABC cricket commentator Kerry O’Keefe, said he had been training for the victory for about six years after finishing third a few times.
‘‘They all know how close I was to quitting,’’ O’Keefe revealed, having paired with Dane Farrell for a win the day before.
‘‘It was on Australia Day that I decided to get back in the pool and only five days ago I actually thought I could go OK.’’
O’Keefe used beach smarts when he trailed Nathan Smith, the Manly and former Cronulla champion and others, who veered further towards the southern end of the beach on the way back from the cans.
‘‘I decided to stick to my plan and swim straight in ... luckily it paid off,’’ said O’Keefe who ran up the beach a clear and popular winner ahead of Chris Allum, the Queenscliff and former Cronulla champion. ‘‘Now I’ve got motivation to go on.’’
On a sunny Sunday of near golden misses in the water:
Wanda’s Taylor Puskaric won silver in the U19 women’s board and surf events;
North Cronulla’s Alex Budd won silver from Elouera’s Kate Conder in the open women’s board;
Wanda’s Britney Pierce won silver in the U15 women’s surf swim;
Cronulla’s Mitch Rofe won silver in the U19 board;
Wanda’s young Danielle McMahon and Abbey Schott finished second in the open women’s double ski and
Elouera’s Dane Farrell was pipped for gold in the open board.
Still, the Bate Bay competitors gained plenty of points winning gold and other medals in the water and on the beach over three days.
And gathered more points just finishing in the top six over the three days, like in the blue ribbon Ironman event where Jay Furniss and Elouera’s Nathan Gray finished fifth and sixth behind former Cronulla ironmen Nathan Smith and Hayden Allum.
In the overall pointscore, Wanda was able to duplicate the performance of their junior competitors the week before by finishing third behind the bigger Newport and Manly clubs, with North Cronulla finishing fourth, Elouera fifth and Cronulla equal sixth out of more than 60 clubs.
The Masters events later this week finalises the 2014 NSW Championships.
SURF LIFESAVING
TOP 15 CLUBS IN NSW TITLES
1) Newport SLSC
2) Manly LSC
3) Wanda SLSC Inc
4) North Cronulla SLSC
5) Elouera SLSC
6) Cronulla SLSC
6) Swansea Belmont SLSC
7) Helensburgh-
Stanwell Park SLSC
8) Avoca Beach SLSC
9) Queenscliff SLSC
9) Freshwater SLSC
10) Collaroy SLSC
10) North Bondi SLSC
11) Coogee SLSC (NSW)
12) Terrigal SLSC
13) Umina SLSC Inc
14) Redhead SLSC
15) Byron Bay SLSC
Beach and full three-day results:
THE four Bate Bay clubs finished inside the top 10 at the NSW Surf Life Saving Championships at Umina on the central coast.
WANDA: 3rd
Star performers included Ali Najem (2 gold), Jay Furniss (gold, silver, 2 bronze-winner of Saxon Bird Memorial Trophy), Taylar Puskaric (gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze), Danielle McMahon (gold, 2 silver, bronze), Josh Fernandes (gold, 2 silver), Izel Tuncer (gold, silver, bronze), Izaak Smith (gold, bronze) and Georgie Woods (gold).
■Gold
Ali Najem: open 2km beach run and under 19 2km
beach run.
Jay Furniss: U19 male surf swim.
Josh Fernandes: U15 2km beach run
Izaak Smith: U17 belt race.
Danielle McMahon, Taylar Puskaric, Izel Tuncer and Georgie Woods: U19 female rescue tube rescue.
■Silver
Britney Pierce: U15 female surf race and rescue tube; Jay Furniss: U19 ironman; Taylar Puskaric: U19 female board; Josh Fernandes: U15 male beach sprint; Emily Rohr: U19 female 2km beach run; James Kariagianis: U17 male beach sprint; Danielle McMahon and Abbey Schott: open female double ski; Danielle McMahon, Taylar Puskaric, Izel Tuncer: U19 female taplin; Hudson Berry, Dane Cooper, Joshua Fernandes, Jamee Smith: U15 beach relay; Blake McCrindle, Kurt Melville, Stuart Smith, Grant Sandstrom, Brock Douglas: open 5-person R&R.
■Bronze
Jay Furniss: U19 surf ski and U19 board; Taylar Puskaric: U19 female surf race; Izaak Smith: U17 rescue tube race; Mitchell Palmer: open 2km; Elly O'Donoghue: U15 female 2km; Peter Axiotis: U17 male beach sprint; Stephen Holbeach, James Karagiannis, Matthew Lewis, Tate Wilkins: open men's beach relay; Danielle McMahon, Taylar Puskaric, Abbey Schott and Izel Tuncer: U19 female surf team; Kurt Melville, Blake McCrindle, Stuart Smith, Brock Douglas, Grace Sheridan, Grant Sandstrom: open 6-person R&R; Luisa Backhouse, Glen Bell, Blake McCrindle, Grace Sheridan, Stuart Smith: open mixed 5-person R&R.
NORTH CRONULLA: 4th
Star performers included Jazmyn Turner (3 gold), Alex Budd (2 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze), Abigail Pugh (2 gold, 1 bronze) and Oliver Hoare (2 gold).
■Gold
Jazmyn Turner: open and U19 female surfboard riding & open malibu
Oliver Hoare: U17 2km beach run.
Oliver Hoare, Lochie Moyle, Jack Harrison, James Southwell: U17 surf team.
Alex Budd, Maggie Mahoney, Meghan Fowler, Abigail Pugh: U17 female surf team.
Alex Budd, Nicole Glason, Abigail Pugh: U17 female taplin relay.
Taylor Harvey, Lucy Mahoney, Monica Di Miao, Stephanie Buncombe, Ellen Streater: open 5-person R&R.
■Silver
Bradley Matthes: U17 male surfboard; Alex Budd: U17 female board; Maddison Moyle, Kira Nuttal, Grace Goman, Taleshia Garland, Abbey Bofinger: U15 R&R 5-person; Hannah Goman, Jade Jenkins, Madison McKinnery, Chelsea Robertson: U19 5-person R&R; Jarrod Bell, Ethan Garland, Ben Highfield, Christopher Hoare: U15 surf team.
■ Bronze
Adam Laebeater: U17 flags; Hannah Goman: U19 female 2km beach run; Rory Lynch: U15 surfboard riding; Adam Leabeater, Lochie Davis, Nathan Nolan, Tyler Gorman-Brown: U17 beach relay; Dane Bofinger, James Southwell: U17 board rescue; Alex Budd, Kelly Primmer: U19 female board rescue; Kelly Primmer, Nicole Glasson, Abigail Pugh, Meghan Fowler: U19 female rescue tube rescue.
ELOUERA: 5th
Star performers included Tom O'Keeffe (3 gold, 1 silver & 1 bronze), Dane Farrell (2 gold, 1 silver & 1 bronze), Katie Conder (1 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze) and Lucy Ford (gold, bronze).
■Gold
Open male surf: Tom O'Keeffe.
Open male surf teams: Tom O'Keeffe, Dane Farrell, Alex Clarke, Kazimir Boskovic.
Open male board rescue: Tom O'Keeffe & Dane Farrell.
Open female board relay: Lucy Ford, Tahnee Fleming, Katie Conder; U15 flags: Josh Cassidy.
■Silver
Open male board race: Dane Farrell; open male rescue tube rescue: Tom O'Keeffe, Alex Clarke, Jake Little, Harrison WIlliams; open female surf teams: Llani Hyer, Bridget Little, Katie Conder, Alex Emery; reserve boat: Mark McDonald, Damian Loveday, Nick Struve, Chris Sims, Daniel Schriek.
■Bronze
Open male board relay: Tom O'Keeffe, Dane Farrell, Nathan Gray; U19 surf: Kazimir Boskovic; U19 surf teams: Kazimir Boskovic, Kye Moore, Josh Muscat, Lachlan Galea; open female rescue tube rescue: Llani Hyer, Bridget Little, Lucy Ford, Katie Conder; open female board: Katie Conder; open female beach relay: Kayla Warncken, Alisha Simpson, Ebony Lane, Renee Stortenbeker; U15 female board rescue: Samantha King, Keira Hughes; U15 male surf teams: Jake Evans, Chris King, Isaac Byrne, Bailey Gentle; U17 female beach sprint: Renee Stortenbeker.
CRONULLA:
equal 6th
Star performers included Ngaire Hadfield (2 gold, 1 bronze), Talia Munro, Talei Holmes, Jamyka Blattman (1 gold each) and Emma Southwell (2 silver, 1 bronze).
■Gold
Ngaire Hadfield: U15 womens beach flags; Ngaire Hadfield, Talia Munro, Talei Holmes, Jamyka Blattman: U15 womens beach relay.
■Silver
Christopher Breen: U15 male 2km run and U15 male 2km beach run; Mitch Rofe; U19 male board and U19 male mixed belt; Nathan Breen: U17 male 2km beach run; Emma Southwell, Carla Papac, Emma Lisser: U17 womens taplin; Emma Southwell, Shivaun Street: U19 womens rescue tube rescue; Kyla King: 17 womens beach sprint; Sam Fowler: U17 male rescue tube rescue.
■Bronze
Nathan Breen: open male 2km; Kyla King: open womens beach sprint; Kyla King, Tiarne Cavanagh, Olivia Clark, Jessie-Rae Trevitt: U17 womens beach relay; Kyla King, Tiarne Cavanagh, Olivia Clark, Jessie-Rae Trevitt: U19 womens relay; Ngaire Hadfield: U15 womens sprint; Emma Southwell, Carla Papac, Danielle Polson: open female taplin; Carla Papac: open female belt.
* The four clubs provided the results.
See a photo gallery at theleader.com.au
