Narrabeen High win the double at Lifeline High School Surf Challenge

Stu Nettle picture
Stu Nettle (stunet)
Form Guide

Narrabeen Sports High School have dominated the Inaugural Lifeline High School Surf Challenge winning both the Boys and Girls Divisions at South Curl Curl Beach, Sydney. Thirteen-year-old Gabi Spake (21.57) was the standout for the Narrabeen Girls team posting a 5.83 and 7.87 Powerwave in the fifty-minute final.

Gabi Spake (Photo Bernadette McAlinden)

Narrabeen finished with a total of 60.30 with Pymble Ladies College (47.93) finishing second with NBSC Freshwater (45.80) third and Queenwood (44.97) fourth. Spake and fellow team mates, Yana Marks (6.10), Kyla Whitfield (15.33), Bella Grainger (7.03) and Kiahni Scott (6.27) all surfed with plenty of commitment with Grainger and Scott finishing strong for Narrabeen in the back end of the final.

“We didn’t expect to win coming up against all the other schools so we are pretty stoked to get the win and now surf in the Vissla comp next year”, Spake said. “We were all trying to catch our waves fast to get the bonus points at the end of the heat and happy to score a good Powerwave as i didn’t finish my first wave”.

Nica Frayne (Pymble Ladies College) put her High School in a great position early in the final scoring a 6.93 and 8.50 Powerwave for a 23.93 two wave total which was the highest score in the final. Jesse Starling (18.17) and Alysse Cooper (13.97) were NBSC Freshwater’s best with Sienna Coulter (12.00) the highest scorer for Queenwood.

Narrabeen Sports High take the Girls division (Photo Bernadette McAlinden)

In the Boys Division Narrabeen (70.53) and NBSC Balgowlah Boys (64.50) battled till the very last wave with Narrabeen’s fifth surfer Jack Lawson (10.93) posting a 3.87 Powerwave to seal victory and claim the double for his High School. Lawson’s team mate Jamie Thomson (20.50) was the highest scorer in the decider locking in a pair of 6.83’s with brothers Emerson (10.43) and Ethan Raper (14.67) along with Luke McManus (12.00) all handling the pressure of tag team surfing with ease.

Sixteen-year old Thomson paddled down the beach during the final and it paid off with the stylish natural footer catching two set waves, “It wasn’t really a tactic before I paddled out to head down the beach but I found a few good waves which was lucky”, Thomson said. “Stoked to represent the school in a tag team event and win with the boys, everyone surfed great and it was a real team effort”.

Jamie Thomson (Photo Bernadette McAlinden)

NBSC Balgowlah Boys had earlier in the day won their Quarter and Semi Finals with the young team surfing with plenty of confidence. Eric Ellery (13.60), Axel Rose-Curotta (14.37), Saxon Reber (18.60), Tom Busselman (7.20) and Gor Ozharovsky (6.73) held the lead midway through the final setting up an exciting finish to a fun day of surfing.

NBSC Freshwater (47.93) finished in third position with their first surfer Sam Stead one of the standouts of the event posting a two-wave total of 16.83 in the final. Pittwater House (39.63) overcame NBSC Cromer and Forest High in Semi Final No.1 for a spot in the four-team final but were unable to find the best waves when it counted most.

Narrabeen Sports High take the Boys division too (Photo Bernadette McAlinden)

Lifeline Northern Beaches CEO David Thomas was impressed by the standard of surfing and the number of schools involved, “It was refreshing to see both male and female teams equally represented and encouraging to hear them talking about mental health and the importance to look out and care for those around you”, Thomas said. “Thanks also to our alliance charity partner – Batyr who participated in the event with representatives on the day talking with students as to what specifically they could do for mental health themselves”.

The top four teams in both the Girls and Boys divisions will surf-off again at the Sydney Open in March with the winner of each division receiving an invite to the 2019 Lifeline Classic scheduled to be held 28th April.

Results - 2018 Lifeline High School Surf Challenge  

Boys Division  

  1. Narrabeen Sports High 70.53
  2. NBSC Balgowlah Boys 64.50
  3. NBSC Freshwater 47.93
  4. Pittwater House 39.63
  5. NBSC Cromer
  6. St Aloysius
  7. Forest High
  8. NBSC Freshwater 2
  9. Epping Boys

Girls Division

  1. Narrabeen Sports High 60.30
  2. Pymble Ladies College 47.93
  3. NBSC Freshwater 45.80
  4. Queenwood 44.97
  5. NBSC Mackellar Girls

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Comments

blindboy's picture
blindboy's picture
blindboy Friday, 21 Sep 2018 at 12:53pm

Great to see Narrabeen High getting behind its surfing heritage (think Nat, Simon, Peter Crawford, Mark Warren etc). For years after they became a sports high school they didn't even have a surfing program!

redmondo's picture
redmondo's picture
redmondo Friday, 21 Sep 2018 at 3:44pm

The centre of the surfing universe is Narrabeen. The Royal Antler was the pinnacle of live music.