Thrilling end to an action-packed weekend as Coastals go down to the wire
Photo finish at the Coastal Rowing Championships as racing went down to the wire on Sunday. Photo: Con Chronis / Rowing Australia
The Australian Coastal Rowing and Beach Sprint Championships have finished in a blaze of glory at Mooloolaba Beach on the Sunshine Coast, with four Gold Medals handed out after another brilliant day of Queensland winter weather.
There was scarcely a cloud in the sky as a stacked program of racing enthralled onlookers, with champions crowned across four boat classes and the racing fast and furious in the water and across the sand.
Lillian Cristaudo topped the podium in the U19 Women’s Beach Sprint Solo, taking the win over Commercial’s Rose Rix with a margin of just over 11 seconds. Commercial would go one-two in the Men’s Beach Sprint Solo, with J O’Toole and R Davey the finalists and O’Toole winning with 34 seconds to spare.
Former Olympians Sonia Heath (Mooloolaba SLFC) and Julia Bell (UTS) added another Gold to their collection when they showed their pedigree in the Masters Women’s Beach Sprint Double Scull. They had taken the Open event on Saturday.
This was a stacked final, with their rivals also having the Olympic rings on their resume. Rachel Kininmonth (UQBC, Sydney 2000) and Julia Bell (Korowa Girls, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004) would be stiff competition but fell just short at the final stretch.
Race 124 would be the final of the Open Mixed Beach Sprint Coxed Quad Scull and would go the way of Marcus Della Marta (UTS), Thea Adamson (UWABC), Sofia Aguirre (UTS), Harry Curtin (UTS) and Cox Nicholas Rogers (UTS).
The best was saved for last, with that crew beating the Mosman Composite crew by just 0.14s in a nail biting end to a superb weekend of beachside action.
UTS would top the final medal count, ahead of trio of Queensland clubs; the University of Queensland, Commercial and Toowong. You can find the final medal count and full results here and check out all of the action on the Rowing Australia social channels.
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