by Melanie Goodman
 
Port Douglas Surf Life Savers set up camp at Etty Bay over the weekend in readiness for their third carnival of the season, and the presence of Blue Bottles didn't distract the team who performed admirably.

With the stakes rising as there are only two more carnivals to follow, competitors were keen to utilise their surf and beach skills to win valuable points.

For nipper competitors in the Under 11 to Under 14 age groups, the carnival presented an opportunity to shine and potentially earn a place on the North Queensland representative State team.
 
Again, our Masters contingent was exceptional. Kelly McNamara and Nikki Innes were unbeatable in their age groups with both women winning all their events.

With former Port competitor Karen Candler back in the mix and now competing for Cairns, Sara McLeod had to be content with second in all water events. Similarly Grant Knight and Ed Lukin left 
fellow competitors floundering in their wake, easily winning the tube race and finishing in the top six in other events.

Both Brian Markham and John Goodman won their respective Board races but both seasoned competitors had to be content with second in the Ironman event. In their first ever attempt, McLeod and Markham went on to finish a commendable fifth in the Double Ski Race.

In the senior arena David Munro, Port’s solo Under 17 competitor stepped up to also compete in the Open category. His efforts were rewarded after he claimed second in the 2km Beach run, second in the Flags, tnird in the Rescue Tube swim and sixth in the Sprint.

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Daniel Walsh, Under 15 competitor was consistent on the beach finishing third in both the Flags and Sprint events closely followed by Cahil Rankin in fourth place. Walsh teamed up with Matty Quinn to take fourth line honours in the Board Rescue.
 
Eliza Markham and Finn Devine-Cameron were Port’s notable Under 14 competitors. Adding to their tally of successes, Markham claimed first place in both the Board and Sprint events, second in the Flags and third in the Surf Swim and Ironwoman.

Devine-Cameron won the Ironman, finished second in the Surf Swim and third in flags. Simon Kramer rose to the challenge finishing fourth in the Ironman, Sabrina Uhlman was third in the Sprint and fourth in Flags and Alison Munro, fourth in the Surf Swim.

Markham, Devine-Cameron and Kramer were joined by Under 13 competitor Harry Goodman to finish second in the Cameron Relay.
 
Under 13 competitors fared well enough with Sophie OGorman-Petrack, Hamish Doye, BJ McLeod and Goodman finishing second in the Beach Relay. In points position in individual events, O'Gorman-Petrack finished third in the sprint, Doye, sixth in the sprint, McLeod, sixth in the Board and Ironman events and Goodman, second in the Sprint and fifth in the Surf Swim and Ironman.

Joshua Lukin Under 12, reaped the reward for his extra water training, finishing in points position in both the Ironman and Board Race adding to third in both Beach events.

Also tasting success, Mia Devine-Cameron finished third in the Board Race, fourth in the Ironwoman and sixth in Sprints. Mitchell Knight was another individual point scorer finishing fifth in the Surf Swim. Kalani Revell finished strongly in her events as did Che Innes-Collins and Moses Hannett-Wade.

With a spectacular return from injury Derek Sorensen was the star performer for the Under 11 age group. Sorensen finished second in the Ironman, third in the Board race, surf swim and flags event and fifth in the sprint.

Jai Hackett was again stupendous on the beach with first in the sprint and second in the Flags. Ryan Stanaway finished a commendable fourth in the Flags event before teaming up with Stanaway to claim second in the board Rescue. Stanaway and Sorensen stepped up an age group to assist members of the Under 12 team to secure points in the Cameron Relay.

In the Under8 to Under 10 arena on Sunday Ethan Pedemay was Port’s Under 10 standout finishing in points position in most of his events including second in Flags, fourth in the Wade, fifth in the Sprint and sixth in the Board Race.

Together with Harrison O'Gorman-Petrack, Darci Maunder and Tilly Lalor the Under 10 team placed fourth in the Beach Relay and sixth in the Wade Relay.

Under 9 competitors Sophie Knight and Oliver Lukin will be nippers to look out for in the future. Knight won convincingly both her Wade Race and Surf Swim while placing third in the Sprint. Lukin placed second in both Beach events, third in the Board, fourth in the Surf Swim and fifth in the Wade.

Zane Innes-Collins and Yolanda Passow were instrumental in joining with Knight and Lukin to finish third in the Board and Cameron Relays and fourth in the Wade and Beach Relays.

With competition hotting up in the Under 8s Jonte Revell managed a commendable second in the Beach Sprint and Flags, third and fourth respectively in the Deep and Shallow Wade races.

Poppy Maunder, Phoebe Brown and Hunta Langley joined forces with Revell to finish third in the Beach Relay and fourth in the Wade Relay.

The next Carnival will be held at Ellis Beach on the 22nd and 23rd September in the lead up to the prestigious North Queensland Branch Carnival scheduled for the 13th and 14th October at Palm Cove.