Emu Park Surf Life Saving Club has once again finished on top at the 2023 North Australian Championships with a dominant performance in the Senior events catapulting the Wide Bay Capricorn Club to a successful title defence.

They finished on an overall total of 1142 ahead of Cairns SLSC (927) and Arcadian SLSC (671), with each of the three orthern Queensland branches featuring clubs in the top three.

More than 400 competitors took the pool of Mackay Aquatics and Recreation Complex on Friday before the action moved to Mackay Harbour Beach over the weekend.

With the Pool Rescue events held on Friday, Cairns took the early lead in the overall pointscore ahead of Emu Park and Tannum Sands.

By the end of the weekend, Cairns finished atop the Junior and Masters pointscores, however Emu Park (480) were more than 200 points clear of the next club (Arcadian 268) in the Senior pointscore, which took them to the title.

Chloe Hooton was a standout in the opens for Emu Park, taking home six gold, three silver and two bronze medals. Clubmate Taitum Harney (U17) picked up eight medals including victory in all five water events.

Cairns U12 Ben Bissett was another athlete to win five events, adding a silver to take away six podium finishes at the event while Eimeo’s Madison Malagueno (U12) took home seven medals, showing versatility to finish on the podium in pool, beach and water events.

Bissett and Harvey were amongst seven competitors to win Age Champion in back-to-back years along with Mackenzie Wyeth (U12 Female, Sarina), Tom Crawshaw (U13 Male, Tannum Sands), Emma McMahon (U13 Female, Arcadian), Stuart Hogben (Male 40-49yrs, Elliott Beach) and Peter Lade (Male 60yrs+, Cairns)

POINTSCORES

OVERALL: Emu Park 1142, Cairns 927, Arcadian 671
JUNIOR: Cairns 327, Tannum Sands 421, Arcadian 220
SENIOR: Emu Park 480, Arcadian 268, Tannum Sands 219
MASTERS: Cairns 387, Emy Park 369, Tannum Sands 155
HANDICAP: Cairns 1182, Tannum Sands 1163, Emu Park 1142

AGE CHAMPIONS
U11 Female: Atlanta Day (Elliott Heads)
U11 Male: Harry Madden (Mackay)
U12 Female: Mansion Malagueno (Eimeo)
U12 Male: Ben Bissett (Cairns)
U13 Female: Mackenzie Wyeth (Emu Park)
U13 Male: Hamish Smallbane (Cairns)
U14 Female: Emma McMahon (Arcadian)
U14 Male: Tom Crawshaw (Tannum Sands)
U15 Female: Darcy Hinz (Tannum Sands)
U15 Male: Leathan Hudson (Ellis Beach)
U17 Female: Taitum Harvey (Emu Park)
U17 Male: Max Vernon (Sarina)
Open Female: Chloe Hooton (Emu Park)
Open Male: Harrison Adams (Arcadian)
30-39yrs Female: Arnika Richards (Tannum Sands)
30-39yrs Male: Ronan Foolkes (Emu Park)
40-49yrs Female: Kym Lingard (Emu Park)
40-49yrs Male: Stuart Hogben (Elliott Heads)
50yrs+ Female: Belinda Marsh (Cairns)
50yrs+ Male: James Marsh (Cairns)
60yrs+ Male: Peter Lade (Cairns)