Australia clean up at international surf rescue challenge

A DOMINANT Australian team made it a clean sweep of test victories with they claimed the third and final test of the 2019 International Surf Rescue Challenge on Tuesday at North Beach and with that the overall, Trans-Tasman and Tri-Nations titles.

For the vast majority of the three tests the team from Down Under have been unrivalled, however there were also marked periods where they were put under pressure from neighbours New Zealand and South Africa.

The third test started in far calmer conditions than the athletes faced on Sunday and South Africa flew out of the blocks with Tatum Botha winning the opening event of the day – the youth girls surf swim. It was a tough start for Botha who took a tumble at the beginning but showed steely resolve to fight her way back to add to South Africa’s four gold medals they had won on the first two days.

From there on the Australian team seemed to relish the conditions and took control of the test with a wave of performances that saw them maintain their stranglehold on the overall title and reinforced the fact that they are the surf lifesaving team to beat.

The South African team can be pleased with their performances throughout with a number of gold medals to add to their cabinet. From a team perspective South African captain Dom Notten was happy with the team’s return through the three days.

Kiwi physio comes to aid of South African lifesaving star

IN an increasingly competitive age of professional sport a New Zealand physiotherapist came to aid of injured South Africa lifesaving star Ryle De Morny at the International Surf Rescue Challenge at North Beach.

The incident happened during the Open Flags events in the first test of the three, when De Morny dived for the flag with an American athlete and fell heavily on his shoulder, dislocating it. Medics rushed to his aid, but Stevenson, who was filming the event for the New Zealand team, recognised the severity of the injury and calmly stepped into the arena to take control of the situation and quickly relocated the shoulder.

“This complete godsend of an angel came walking out of the crowd with this aura about her and just took charge,” said De Morny.

“I also physio for the New Zealand Sevens teams so I put a few shoulders back in each year,” said Stevenson. “I was just in the right place at the right time.”

De Morny said that the doctors who had treated his shoulder shortly afterwards had said that the speedy and professional intervention of Stevenson had significantly reduced the potential injury and its recovery time.

“Those two minutes it took to set it back in was a potential career-saving move for me. There was a real risk of nerve damage and damage to the labrum, so if it had not been set back in place it could have been a severe emergency, so I can’t be grateful enough,” said De Morny.

De Morny’s injury will keep him on the sidelines for four to six months as the shoulder recovers from the injury suffered in the dislocation.