On Day two of the Interclub program at LWC2024, the Youth athletes took to the beach for the 2km runs and Sprint Relays while the Opens hit the pool.

Wild winds and big swells at Kurrawa saw the Interclub Youth Ocean events postponed until Wednesday however the sprinters and 2km runners powered through with the winds buffeting them across the sand.

Australian clubs dominated the 2km Beach Runs with Kyle Mason (Wanda) making a break for it with more than one full lap to go ahead of Alex Sheppard (Kurrawa) and Kyton Pickering (Alexandra Headland).

After the race Mason said the break away was becoming his trademark move.

“I’ve always enjoyed breaking away half way through the race, it adds that extra bit of excitement for me, so I’d planned it but I did go a bit earlier than I would have thought.

“I’ve done a lot of training with my coach who’s a sand specialist, so every week I’ve been down on the sand just running. I’m only competing on the beach this year so I’ve got the 1km relay tomorrow, Opens on Friday and the Opens relay on Saturday.”

In the women’s 2km, 2024 Australian Champion Sari McKee (North Cronulla) settled into the front pack from the start, gradually moving herself to the lead with a dominant sprint at the end to move clear of her fellow competitors. Savannah Bush (North Burleigh) came in second with Sienna Alderson (Wanda) in third.


“It’s pretty windy today so I wasn’t sure what race tactic to do, but I just trusted myself and broke away in that last 250 so I’m pretty happy,” said McKee. “It was definitely a bit slower today than the ‘Aussies’ pace because of the tougher conditions. On the way out it was good because you had the wind with you, but on the way back the pace was a bit slower.”

As the winds increased so did the speed with the Women’s and Men’s Youth Beach Relays moving quickly through heats, semis and finals.

It was an all Australian affair in the Women’s Youth Final with Swansea Belmont crossing the line ahead of North Cronulla and Noosa Heads.

South Africa’s Clifton Surf Lifelifesaving Club showcased their sprint prowess on the beach track, taking it to their Aussie competitors in the Men’s Final to win the World Title ahead of South Maroubra and Mordialloc while their female clubmates won the Women’s B Final.

Clifton team member Samuel Abold said the focus had been to win but to follow through was incredible.

“We’ve definitely worked on this event a lot,” he said. “We knew coming here that we had quite a quick team so we just focused on competing well on the day and we did it.”

Across at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre, the Interclub Opens were attacking the Pool Rescue events to try and give their clubs a strong start in the pointscore with Italy’s Rane Rosse making their mark quickly with podiums in a number of individual races including a dominant victory in the Women’s 4x50m Obstacle Relay.

In the first final of the afternoon, the Women’s 200m Obstacle Swim, Poppy Stephen (Metropolitan Caloundra) led from the start with only 0.41s separating first to third place with Fabretti Lucrezia and Pirovano Anna (Rane Rosse ITA) securing the final two podium places.

Clearly overwhelmed after her first-ever World Title, Stephens admitted she was still in shock.

“I haven’t really processed it yet but I’m super stoked with that swim,” she said. “I’m kind of known for stuffing up in the finals so I was really happy to hold my own and take away the win.

“I was just focusing on not hitting any of the obstacles and keeping my underwaters.”

James Koch (Burleigh Heads Mowbray Park) turned his National Teams 200m Obstacles Silver into Interclub Gold with a strong swim over the top of Louis Clark (Northcliffe SLSC) and Locchi Simone (Rane Rosse ITA).

“I couldn’t ask for anything more than that,” said Koch. “I went out last week with a lot of nerves, but it was awesome to be in that race with the World Record and to swim a PB for myself.

“For me, this week is all about having fun. I got a 1:54 which I didn’t think I’d do today so I’m happy with that, I just kept the race really simple.

“I knew if I rushed it a bit early, thought about it too much or forced it I was going to be in a world of pain. Louis and I had a joke that whoever won the last 50 metres would win the race, so that’s what I was trying to do, have a bit of fun racing with the boys.”


Current Australian champions and World Record holders in the Men’s Line Throw, Taj Ward and Fletcher Luscombe from South Australia’s Seacliff SLSC couldn’t beat their record but did secure the World Championship Title. 

Ward said it was a dream come true to compete at Worlds.

“That whole race felt literally perfect from start to finish and Fletcher and I are just so stoked with our result, especially to win our first ever World Championship title.”

“This is something I’ve always dreamed of, ever since I was a young little Nipper. I couldn’t ask for a better patient, he’s a brilliant kicker.

“It’s absolutely fantastic to have all the different countries come to the good ol’ Gold Coast in Australia and compete against each other. We’ll all be friends for a long time. This pool feels like a home away from home for us so I definitely think we had the home soil advantage.”

New Zealand’s Fergus Eadie swapped his Kiwi black cap for Northcliffe maroon, winning the Men’s 100m Manikin Carry with Fins again following his World Record swims in the National Teams competition.

“I knew it was going to be a tough race, I had Davide [Cremonini] pushing me the whole way which was just awesome. I could see him out the the corner of my eye and these young blokes, they’ve got so many more battles to come.

“My legs have got a lot of residual in them. When I finished and saw my time I thought to myself, ‘that was a hard 45:1’.

“I’ve still got plenty of races to come; I’m super happy with that and super happy to be here with the Northcliffe team. I know the beach guys are going to pull through so we needed to hold up our end of the deal and hopefully get a point surplus, so I gave it all I had.”

The schedule now moves to a full ocean and beach program at Kurrawa for the Youth competitors on Wednesday with predictions that the wind and swell will drop, while the Open competition continues at the pool.