2015 Great Melbourne Paddle Report

2015 Great Melbourne Paddle Official Report

The day broke to dead calm conditions, mildly overcast, not cold, not too warm for the fun ahead. To Green Point Brighton at 6am for setup and organisation framed by a misty sunrise and a glassy bay. From 7am the LuluLemon Yoga crew got us all loose and limber for the rigours ahead, rego at 8:15 and race briefing at 9:00.

9:15 and 65 competitors lined up for the main event. The format was in laps of a 1k course with Round 1 – 2 laps, Round 2 – 2 laps and Round 3 -3 laps with about 15mins for recovery between rounds. Race director Warwick Lee was in charge of the gun and sent the Sport Class off with a bit of a head start, a ding-dong battle ensued between Young Dom (watch that kid), Geoff B, Big Stu and newcomer Warren D. The main field bolted from the beach shortly after with Heath Meldrum scooping each round by a large margin, and a hard fought tussle between Steve Ferguson and Chris Clarke for 2 and 3 on line honours with international ring-in Jeremy Riggs not far off the wakes. The evergreen Jean Ringrose caned again in open women with newcomers Anna and Patchara in hot pursuit. Dave and Darren from Geelong smashed it out in the 0/40’s men; Ann, Iseult and Alison were polite and civilised in the 0/40 women’s and in the hotly-contested 0/50 Mens group mates and rivals Damo, Paul and MJ battled it out.

Podium placings below, and our full photo coverage courtesy of Jason Reekie’s EVNT Photography

The rest of the morning filled up with board demos with heaps of newbies and passers-by on the beach, a downwind skill clinic with Jeremy Riggs, Giant SUP drag races and a kids’ race or three. Presentations followed, then to the SUPVIC Christmas party under the big orange tent, with a visit and a special poem from SUP Santa and a silent auction that raise a bucket o’ cash for the GMP companion charity SUP ability.

It really was a corker of a day (and there’s plenty where that came from folks, come and join us next on Australia Day January 26th at St Kilda for the Port Phillip Cup!).

Stu Thomas 
SUPVIC Prez

Special thanks to:
  • The SUPVIC committee team – Wooz, Kathy, Stuey, Shaz, Super-Damo, Mark, DJ and Dany for all their hard work in the lead-up.
  • Alan for the PA/DJ work, Mark for the Genny and Tim at Digital Media Creations for the promo art.
  • Mother Jen and the Moorabbin Rams Women’s Rugby Club for the superb snags and bacon & egg rolls and to Mel for the coffees.
  • Big thanks also to the water safety guys Sean Carew on Jet Ski and Arthur Naoumidis on Cruiser
  • For superb photography Jason Reekie of EVNT Photography.
  • Of course Tina and the LuluLemon Brighton yoga crew for their yoga sessions on the beach and healthy snacks and drinks.
  • Jeremy Riggs for pulling a night flight from Perth to paddle with us and share his knowledge and expertise (and SHQ/SIC for bringing him over – he’s a helluva nice bloke)
  • The Lunch Ladies Shaz, Kathy, Anna, Jean, for the Spread at the SUPVIC Christmas Party afterward
  • Thanks also to our sponsors and supporters for making such a huge presence on the beach – Fanatic, Naish, SHQ/SIC, CORE Boardsports, KR SUP, The Zu Boardsports, Jet OceanSports, Sunny King, and RedPaddleCo, DC, DEEP/1SUP1, Globe Skateboards and Go Natural .
  • Of course a HUGE thanks to all of the SUPVIC members and friends that made the day…that helped set up, helped pack up, paddled hard and fair, had a ton of fun and brought the stoke in buckets.

[av_gallery ids=’3976,3973,3970,3974,3967,3971,3968,3972,3975,3969′ style=’thumbnails’ preview_size=’portfolio’ crop_big_preview_thumbnail=’avia-gallery-big-crop-thumb’ thumb_size=’portfolio’ columns=’5′ imagelink=’lightbox’ lazyload=’avia_lazyload’]Images courtesy Chris Sal
 

Main Race Placings (by division)


Open Men
1/ Heath Meldrum
2/ Steve Ferguson
3/ Jeremy Riggs

Open Women
1/ Jean Ringrose
2/ Patchara Songprasert
3/ Anna Robertson

O/40 Women
1/ Alison Forrest
2/ Iseult Stephenson
3/ Anne Thomson

O/40 Men
1/ Chris Clarke
2/ Dave Sprague
3/ Darren Corbett

O/50 Men
1/ Damien Quinlan
2/ MJ
3/ Paul Gaynor

Sport Class (Non-race boards 12’ and under)
1/ Geoff Barden
2/ Domenic Frederico
3/ Stu Thomas

Kids
1/ Domenic Frederico
2/ James McKellar

PHOTO GALLERY


Photos by EVNT – visit them for your next event photography
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