
Old Dawgs show off new tricks to take open boat division as Albany Surf Craft Challenge enjoys record turnout
North Cottesloe dominated the battles for the whale tail trophies claiming the winners' and runners-up slots in both men's and women's open boat divisions at the 2025 Albany Surf Craft Challenge.
In the men's event, the Old Dawgs showed the Young Pups some new tricks as they completed the course in 1 hour and 39 seconds to pip their club rivals who finished in 1:00.54.
Cin Cin won women's category, finishing in 1:04.02 ahead of champions for the past two years North Cott Impact who crossed the line in 1:06.20.
The 12km course ran from Princess Royal Harbour to Middleton Beach, finishing at the Albany Surf Lifesaving Club in Ellen Cove.
The event overall attracted a record field of 330 competitors, participating across 48 surf boats and 90 surf ski paddlers.
Albany's top performers came in the women's masters where Fat Gannets and Wedgetails followed Scarborough's Scarboro Storm home.
The Gannets were just one second behind the winners with Wedgetails a further two seconds adrift.
City of Perth's City Black won the men's masters, their 1:01.32 giving them a seven-second advantage over second-placed HCM from Fremantle.
Just over a second split the top three in a tight under-23 men's division, the Screaming Seamen of Secret Harbour edging out Scarboro Sharks and Cottesloe Crushers.
Mullaloo dominated the women's under-23 race, taking all three podium places.
In the open division of the surf skis, City of Perth's Kent Jenkinson recorded the quickest paddle of the day with his effort of 55.48 giving him clear water over Albany's Nick Walker, who was second.
The women's open was taken by Mullaloo's Amanda Hunt in 1:10.26.
In the open double skis, Alasdair Marsden and Sasha Small from North Cottesloe were victorious with Albany's father-son combination of Jason and Jesiah Bresanello fourth.
The traditional 2km run was held on the narrow sands of Middleton Beach from the Albany Surf Club, with under-19 surf ski champion Owen Chaloner and Jenkinson the top two.
Walker, who was the race director, said the challenge had been an important milestone for the newly updated clubhouse.
'It's a centre for event hosting, post-race catch-ups and a celebration of what community service, volunteering and sport can achieve,' he said.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


West Australian
a day ago
- West Australian
Old Dawgs show off new tricks to take open boat division as Albany Surf Craft Challenge enjoys record turnout
North Cottesloe dominated the battles for the whale tail trophies claiming the winners' and runners-up slots in both men's and women's open boat divisions at the 2025 Albany Surf Craft Challenge. In the men's event, the Old Dawgs showed the Young Pups some new tricks as they completed the course in 1 hour and 39 seconds to pip their club rivals who finished in 1:00.54. Cin Cin won women's category, finishing in 1:04.02 ahead of champions for the past two years North Cott Impact who crossed the line in 1:06.20. The 12km course ran from Princess Royal Harbour to Middleton Beach, finishing at the Albany Surf Lifesaving Club in Ellen Cove. The event overall attracted a record field of 330 competitors, participating across 48 surf boats and 90 surf ski paddlers. Albany's top performers came in the women's masters where Fat Gannets and Wedgetails followed Scarborough's Scarboro Storm home. The Gannets were just one second behind the winners with Wedgetails a further two seconds adrift. City of Perth's City Black won the men's masters, their 1:01.32 giving them a seven-second advantage over second-placed HCM from Fremantle. Just over a second split the top three in a tight under-23 men's division, the Screaming Seamen of Secret Harbour edging out Scarboro Sharks and Cottesloe Crushers. Mullaloo dominated the women's under-23 race, taking all three podium places. In the open division of the surf skis, City of Perth's Kent Jenkinson recorded the quickest paddle of the day with his effort of 55.48 giving him clear water over Albany's Nick Walker, who was second. The women's open was taken by Mullaloo's Amanda Hunt in 1:10.26. In the open double skis, Alasdair Marsden and Sasha Small from North Cottesloe were victorious with Albany's father-son combination of Jason and Jesiah Bresanello fourth. The traditional 2km run was held on the narrow sands of Middleton Beach from the Albany Surf Club, with under-19 surf ski champion Owen Chaloner and Jenkinson the top two. Walker, who was the race director, said the challenge had been an important milestone for the newly updated clubhouse. 'It's a centre for event hosting, post-race catch-ups and a celebration of what community service, volunteering and sport can achieve,' he said.


West Australian
2 days ago
- West Australian
Albany claim under-12 and under-20 division victories at WA Netball Association Championships
Albany Netball Association sent 10 teams to the annual Fuel to Go & Play Association Championships over the June long weekend, with two teams coming home as division champions. The championships were held at Perth's Gold and Matthews netball centres over three days, with more than 300 players travelling from across the State to compete. Teams were divided into 46 divisions, which featured 13 metropolitan associations, 35 regional associations and 17 invitational teams from Singapore. Albany's under-20 team finished their weekend undefeated, taking strong wins in the first three rounds and continuing their winning form all the way through to Monday's grand final game against Eastern Hills. Both teams played hard to claim grand final glory, but Albany managed to stay on top, defeating Eastern Hills by two goals to claim the title. Albany's strong younger talent was on show with two mixed under-12 teams, two under-14 teams and two under-16 teams. The under-12 division seven team finished third on the ladder with four wins to their name over the weekend, and the division three team remained undefeated, finishing as division champions after defeating Fremantle by a massive 19 goals in the grand final. The under-16 division two team finished seventh on the ladder, taking home a round five win over Leschenault, and the division eight team ended their weekend second on the ladder after a gallant grand final loss to Bunbury. The under-14 division four team had a similarly slow start, but claimed a six-goal win over Success in round six. The division seven team fought started well with a round one win over Belmont but losing stride in round two and three. They came back to claim late wins over Manjimup and Eaton, finishing sixth on the ladder. The under-13 teams also competed in divisions four and seven, and both made it to the finals. The division seven team was taken out in the first round of finals by Bunbury and the division four team made it to the grand final game but were outplayed by Rockingham.


West Australian
2 days ago
- West Australian
Local talent on display at Wavefest, Rueben Lemmes and Isi Campbell claim prestigious open titles
The Albany Boardriders Club hosted its annual Wavefest event at Muttonbird over the WA Day long weekend, with more than 60 surfers travelling from across the south coast to compete. 2023 champion Rueben Lemmes came back to reclaim glory with a win in the open men's and Denmark surf sensation Isi Campbell took out the open women's category. The event ran heats on Saturday then returned for finals on Monday, dodging unfavourable weather and swell forecasts on Sunday, and Albany Boardriders' competition director David Beeck said high-standard surfing was on display all weekend. 'There's a bit of a buzz going on around surfing down here at the moment, we saw some great action and some high quality surfing over the weekend, and there's definitely more people wanting to get involved which is always great to see,' he said. There was plenty of young talent on show in both the open categories, with Campbell taking to the waves while defending open men's champion Zen Shepherd was back out in the line-up. 'There's definitely a solid young crew coming up through the ranks, we're noticing more Albany kids in there as well as some Denmark ones, and the calibre of competition they put on over the Wavefest this year was incredible to see,' Beeck said. Lemmes clinched victory in a close fight over defending champion Shepherd, with Luke Anderson and young gun Tyce Shepherd coming in third and fourth respectively. Campbell outlasted strong challenges in the final of the open women's with Albany local Holly Minter snatching second spot, followed by Karina Hick in third and Sascha Roberts in fourth place. Jess Ngeh defended her over-30s women's title, with Hick picking up another placing for the weekend, this time second spot. Narelle Wakefield and Maeli Cherel rounded out the top four. Josh Coumans claimed victory in the over-35 men's ahead of Jeff Lee who was a close second while Rhys Jones and Andy McKinnon were third and fourth in the final. Albany surfer Darryn Oostdam won the over-45 men's final from Beeck in second place and Jason Oostdam and Adam Wheeler coming in third and fourth. The Southern Ocean Surf Reef is being constructed at Middleton Beach and Beeck said he believed the new break close to Albany's city centre was going to invite even more interest in surfing. 'I think the surf reef is going to do wonders, and it already is, because the Denmark kids have Ocean Beach to surf on right on their back door, but without Middleton all of Albany's breaks are a lot less accessible,' he said. 'I've been down at the new reef and seen plenty of kids riding their bikes down before school in the morning for a surf or after school, so I think it'll bring a whole new tribe of young groms to us and open surfing up to a lot of new people in Albany as well.'