Perfect conditions greeted athletes for the second annual One Club surf carnival on Sunday.
The innovative event at Wanda Beach involves selected events for competitors from under-9s to over-40s competing simultaneously across five water arenas.
More than 800 athletes from 23 surf clubs, some as far away as Newcastle and the south coast, were in action with more than 3,000 people estimated to have been on the beach including officials and spectators.
The two-kilometre ocean to beach ski race paddle drew more than 40 competitors to start the carnival with North Bondi’s Ben Walker first across the line, with Cronulla’s Carla Papic winning the women’s division.
Caves Beach won the open march past while Elouera won the open male taplin relay from Wanda.
It was a Coogee double in the beach sprint, with Michael Kember taking out the Marc Leabeater Cup open men’s event while Sophie McGovern took out the women’s event.
Cronulla’s Lachlan Crawford and Clovelly’s Bernadette Chisholm won the open male and female 2km beach runs respectively while Wanda won both the Ironman and Ironwoman events with Mitchel Allum and Brittany Pierce crossing the line first.
Wanda (934) won the overall point score convincingly from Coogee (488) and Cronulla (385). North Cronulla finished fifth with Elouera seventh.
Wanda SLSC president Mark Sargeant was delighted with the day, with the club believing the carnival format is the future of surf lifesaving club events.