Mooloolaba was awash with colour during the weekend, when about 1500 nippers took to the beach for the Surf Life Saving Queensland Youth Championships.
Club tents and caps dotted the sand and the surf during the giant annual event, which was held from Thursday, February 16, to Sunday, February 19.
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Maroochydore SLSC captured overall club honours, after racing in divisions from under-11 to under-15.
The club’s head coach, Nathan Greig, said the result was reward for effort.
“This is a huge result for the club and comes as a result of five years of rebuilding,” he said via a SLSQ media release.
“We have been training here at Mooloolaba, really preparing for this event over the last 18 months.”
(Updated, Feb 23: Maroochydore ultimately finished second overall after SLSQ revealed there was a scoring error. North Burleigh was awarded first place)
Neighbouring Alexandra Headland also fared well, to finish third overall.
Club member Tyler Johnson was the star of the carnival, collecting seven gold medals at his first state championships.
“It feels so good,” he said.
“I just wanted to try my hardest and hoped I would do pretty good.
“It’s fun to race against people from all over Queensland, they push you hard.
“We train here at Mooloolaba a lot of the time, so I knew the conditions pretty well.”
Meanwhile, the host club, Mooloolaba, was 14th among 41 clubs in the overall standings.
It’s hosting the championships during its centenary summer.
The club snared two wins and seven podiums during the carnival, to kickstart a revival of its surf sports program.
“This is a turning point for the surf club and its surf sports,” MLSC director of surf sports Trent Robinson said.
“We want to really improve on this for the next three to five years.”
The Seniors and Masters competition will be held at Mooloolaba from February 24 to 26.
