Hometown triumph for Bulli rowers at ASRL Open
The 2023 Australian Surf Rowers League (ASRL) Open took to Bulli and Sharky beaches last week with more than 1000 rowers journeying from across Australia and New Zealand to compete in the four-day international surf boat racing championships, the largest event of its kind in Australia.
More than 1000 rowers from across Australia and New Zealand competed in the 2023 Australian Surf Rowers League (ASRL) Open, held at Bulli and Sharky beaches last week.
The four-day international surf boat racing championship is the largest event of its kind in Australia.
From Thursday, February 9 to Sunday, February 12, more than 350 boat crews from more than 100 surf clubs competed across divisions from Under-19s through to the Opens.
Local athletes impressed during the event: Bulli Gold won the Men’s Open division, Port Kembla placed second in the Women’s Open division, and Bulli’s Women’s Reserves and Men’s Under-23s reached the semi-finals.
Winning by more than two boat lengths, the Men’s Open victory was the home-grown triumph they’d hoped for, Bulli Surf Life Saving Club president Jamie Caldwell said.
“That was what we were after, that was the narrative, the story we were hoping for,” Jamie said.
“They absolutely dominated the final, which the boys themselves are very humble [about] and wouldn't admit to any of that... but they seriously are, I think, in the conversation of potentially being one of the, if not the best surf boat crews we've ever seen.
“Traditionally, you'll see crews be at the top of their game for one, two or three years but, for our guys, they've been at the top of their game for close to 15 years now.
"They're a very special crew."
Though the event was an overall success for Bulli SLSC, it was not without challenges. Thursday’s wild weather caused the cancellation of the opening Masters divisions and required an all-hands-on-deck approach – by competitors and officials – to protect the event’s infrastructure.
“I've never seen or experienced anything like that,” Jamie said.
“Whilst we had the rain coming down, [we had] all the competitors… and officials hanging out in the surf club to get out of the rain, the surf club flooding, flooding around the surf club, the event infrastructure being washed away and trying to be pulled off the beach, [and] we were also trying to successfully undertake flood rescues around the corner at the same time as well.
“Once the rain finished off on that Thursday afternoon into the evening, we then basically re-set up the rest of the carnival event infrastructure again in preparation for the next day, so we kind of set everything up twice.”
Though weather conditions improved on Friday and throughout the weekend, strong winds meant Sunday’s heats were relocated to Sharky Beach where the Men’s and Women’s Open events were held. But this made Bulli Gold’s win no less sweet.
“Whilst it wasn't technically on Bulli Beach, being on Sharky's next door, which is our back-up beach, so to speak, it was [still] very special,” Jamie said.
“For a lot of those people, that's the first time they've seen the boys win a major event along those lines because normally it's these events you're travelling to – they're in Queensland, they're in Sydney, they're in Perth – so, the opportunity for their family and friends, extended family was ideal.
“It just felt timely that if we could give them that opportunity to race in one of the big events of the season at home, that's a pretty good narrative, you know, to be able to look back on in 20, 30, 40, 50 years time, that when the guys were at the top of their peak, they won the ASRL Open on their home beach.”
More than 3000 people, including competitors, spectators and officials, visited Bulli Beach over the course of the four-day event. Ensuring the event ran smoothly was no easy feat for the 100-plus Bulli SLSC volunteers involved in coordinating water safety, first aid, parking, beach movements and food and bar service.
Jamie said the club and its volunteers were thrilled to bring an event of this scale to the northern Illawarra.
“We don't tend to reap the benefits of the big-scale events that are held in Wollongong,” he said.
“As a significantly community-minded club, to be able to bring so many people to Bulli and show them Bulli and the northern suburbs, and to inject the hundreds of thousands of dollars into the local economy, we are really happy that we were able to do that.
“The way the community accepted, supported and understood what it meant to us as a club to have it here, but could also see the benefits of it being here, we'd like to just really thank the local community as well for being such good sports.”
