COLOURED swimming caps will dot Warrnambool’s Lady Bay beach when more than 1000 Nippers chase state success this weekend.
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Warrnambool is hosting the Life Saving Victoria junior state championships on Saturday and Sunday, bringing competitors from as far away as Gippsland.
The event marks the second consecutive year that Warrnambool has played host. Nippers will also return to the Lady Bay sand for the 2016 championships.
Warrnambool SLSC Nippers co-ordinator Dean Kilpatrick said the weekend shaped as hectic for competitors and organisers.
About 1500 Nippers contested the championships last year, although the figure this year is likely to be down due to tougher qualifying requirements.
“There will be somewhere between 1000 and 1500 kids on the beach,” Kilpatrick said.
“We’ve got 54 of them. We’ve got some good numbers and some good prospects there as well. It’ll be a good weekend.”
Mentone SLSC enters the weekend as defending champion, having tallied 391 points to beat Half Moon Bay (319) and Jan Juc (293) last year.
But Warrnambool, a comparatively smaller club, also performed well. Eight members finished the weekend with medals, the best haul in years.
Brayden Casamento won three, including silver in the under 13 boys’ individual board and gold in the board rescue with Hayden Carr.
Brayden, Hayden and Paddy O’Brien also won the under 13 boys’ board relay in a sprint finish. The trio are chasing success at under 14 level.
Other Warrnambool contenders include Emily Bartlett, Sarah Flaherty and Wren Wood in the under 13 girls’ section.
Harrison Kilpatrick, Alistair Artz and Balun Cumming have hopes in the under 12 boys’ section.
“If we can get to a lot of finals, that’d be a good weekend. The kids have been through a big six or eight weeks, since probably Christmas,” Dean Kilpatrick said.
Warrnambool SLSC will also have its end-of-season presentations on Sunday night, following the staging of its club championships last weekend.