History was made for North Cronulla Rowers on finals day at the Australian Surf Life Saving Titles when Maggie Mahoney, Hayley Urquhart, Katie Coghlan, Alysha Lerond and sweep Mark McDonald won the Australian Title in the Open Women's Surf Boat.
It was the first Open Women's Gold medal for the biggest surf boat club in Australia.
The last time any Bate Bay club won an Open Boat Gold was by North Cronulla mens crew in 1994, the Elouera womens crew finished runner up in 2019.
This crew has had an amazing season and were fresh off a win in the hotly contested Ocean Thunder series.
After easily working their way through the round robin and final rounds, it came time for the big show in the final - and the crew stormed home, in the 'Billy Bofinger' boat to take the win in front of a roaring crowd.
The just christened 'Billy Bofinger', is sponsored by Fight MND and to see it rowed to Aussies glory was an incredible moment for the whole extended North Cronulla family to see the spirit of Billy Bofinger and Jane Bloor live on.
The crew said to be the 2022 Australian Open Women Champions is the biggest achievement you can make in surf boats and it's something wonderful that the five of them will be able to share and cherish forever.
"We couldn't be more proud of each other and still can't believe that we had the strength, toughness and skill to achieve something so great for ourselves, our team and our club." They said
Mark 'funky' McDonald said stroke rower Katie Coglan sustained a rib injury two weeks out from the titles and he thought they were going to be up against it.
"Katie was unable to train and we knew we were going into a big sea. Her effort over the weekend was easily the bravest thing I've ever seen in 30 years of the sport."
It was also a golden night for Alex Rampoldi, Emily Rampoldi, Leah Rampoldi and Lucy Flanagan winning the Gold medal and back to back Australian sprint relay Championships.
Cruz McKee won the U17 Male Shortboard competition for North Cronulla dominating through the rounds and in the final Cruz took the win by 3.83 points.
John Veage
Thirty five year photographer for Fairfax -former NSW Chief Photographer for FCN and now Photo Journalist for the St George and Sutherland Shire Leader in southern Sydney.Official photographer for Cycling Australia (20 years) Official photographer for Surf Life Saving Australia (30 years) Founding Life Member of Cronulla Boardriders Club and Life Member of Surfing Sutherland Shire among other things.
Thirty five year photographer for Fairfax -former NSW Chief Photographer for FCN and now Photo Journalist for the St George and Sutherland Shire Leader in southern Sydney.Official photographer for Cycling Australia (20 years) Official photographer for Surf Life Saving Australia (30 years) Founding Life Member of Cronulla Boardriders Club and Life Member of Surfing Sutherland Shire among other things.
