Warilla-Barrack Point’s Bailey Krstevski and Bulli’s Sarah Locke have been crowned overall champions in this year's Sydney Water Surf Series.
The pair's strong performances in the first three rounds of the series made them early favourites for the overall title going into the final round at Wollongong City Beach on Saturday, November 25.
Though Bailey was victorious in the overall surf race point scores, Bulli’s Brayden Woodford, who placed second to Bailey in the previous weekend’s Summer of Surf round at Bulli Beach, this time beat him to the finish line in Saturday’s surf race.
Bulli once again reinforced its strong surf sports reputation with Saturday’s round as the club's Callum Elliott, an Australian junior kayak representative, won the overall series ski title. Callum was using Saturday as his final preparation for the 2023 ICF Canoe Ocean Racing World Championships in Perth from November 30 to December 3.
Warilla-Barrack Point young guns Claire Spicknall and Maddix Burke recorded strong performances in the series, with Claire taking a hard-fought victory in the under-17 overall point score, and Maddix claiming a tight under-15s victory over clubmates Kobe Sims and Mack Elliot.
Warilla’s Jayden Allan and Jordan White won the overall board race titles in the open men’s and open women’s competitions respectively, having each taken home multiple victories over the series’ four rounds.
Back on the sand, Australian champion and national representative Sam Zustovich of Mollymook Surf Life Saving Club claimed the beach sprint and beach flags title with solid performances since the first round of the series.
Other Illawarra athletes with strong beach event results in their respective categories included Mollymook’s Mischa Boniface and Wollongong City speedsters Isabella Evans, Rory-Lindsay Cowan and Xavier Anderson.
Overall, Warilla-Barrack Point, Wollongong City and Bulli were the strongest clubs of the final round.
Saturday’s round at Wollongong City Beach caps off a strong 2023 series with close to 1000 surf life savers competing in the high-level competition. The series will return to Illawarra beaches in 2024.
