Surf Life Saving Australia recognises its top surf lifesavers

The annual Surf Life Saving Australia National Awards of Excellence has honoured Australia’s top surf lifesavers recognising their achievements and contributions.

For the first time since 2019, members came together on the Gold Coast to recognise recipients of awards across the lifesaving, sport and education categories for their outstanding service to their communities.

Christine Cardwell of South Melbourne LSC & Anglesea SLSC secured the Surf Sports Coach of the Year.  As the head R&R coach at both South Melbourne and Anglesea, Cardwell had an outstanding 2021/22 season, with all four of her senior teams winning gold medals in their respective events at the Aussies. In addition to these outstanding results, Cardwell’s U19 team competed up in the Opens taking home the Silver medal. Cardwell was able to facilitate and deliver online R&R coaching for members affected by the lingering effects of COVID-19 in Victoria. These sessions ensured all members were prepared for Aussies and not dis-advantaged by isolation. Cardwell leads by example and always available giving back to R&R by mentoring members though coaching clinics, forums and demonstrations.

Surf Sports Official of the Year was awarded to Mark Lehman from Burnie SLSC in Tasmania. Lehman has again proven himself to be a consistent, reliable, and dedicated Surf Sports Official. This year will have seen seven years of service as an Official. In that time Lehman has always challenged himself for continuous self-improvement for each role that he undertakes, and has always ensured that he is up to date with rule changes. Lehman has had a very busy season at Tasmanian carnivals in Senior Officiating roles, from Surf Boat carnivals to Nipper carnivals, attending over 20 carnivals whilst mentoring officials at many more. He is committed to the ongoing development of Officials and wants to ensure that when they step onto the beach, it is a positive experience for them. Lehman continues to develop himself, submitting new ideas to the SLST Sport Advisory Committee for the betterment of surf sports. Lehman was Starter at the Australian Youth Championships this season, finding joy in being the familiar face for first time young Tasmanian athletes at the Aussies.

Surf Life Saving Australia Chief Executive Adam Weir notes “across the country Surf Life Saving boasts 314 surf clubs with more than 189,000 members all of whom contribute to the 8,900+ rescues and 1,634,223 preventative actions taken to keep Australian beaches and communities safe.

“While volunteer surf lifesavers and lifeguards keep watch of the coastline, there are so many roles that contribute to the success of the organisation - from the trainers to assessors, officials, coaches and many more.

“Each year Surf Life Saving’s members give more than 1 million hours to keep Australian beaches safe, and the Awards of Excellence are a great platform that allows us to recognise these members for their commitment to their communities, and dedication to ensuring we keep the coast safe for all.

“The last 12 months have been focusing on bringing the Surf Life Saving community back together, it has been fantastic to have members from across our diverse community all together tonight for the first time since 2019.

“On behalf of Surf Life Saving I wish to congratulate all our Award winners as well as the finalists from across the country.”

Shannon Fox of Wollongong City SLSC (NSW) took out the prestigious DHL Surf Lifesaver of the Year with Richard Lissett - Quinns Mindarie SLSC (WA) awarded DHL Volunteer of the Year, Mermaid Beach SLSC (QLD) was named as DHL Club of the Year and DHL Lifeguard of the Year honours went to Reece Dobbin (NSW).

 After another spectacular season, that saw him take out the triple crown, winning the 2021 Coolangatta Gold, 2022 Nutri-Grain IronMan Series and 2022 Australian Ironman title, Ali Day (Surfers Paradise, QLD) took out the 2022 Surf Sports Athlete of the Year.

SLSA was also proud to induct thirteen new members to the Hall of Fame, including three-time Australian Ironwoman champion Georgia Miller (Northcliffe, QLD), ironman legend Dean Mercer (Kurrawa, QLD), pioneer lifesaver Hayden Kenny (Alexandra Headland, QLD) and surfboarding stalwart Robert Little OAM (Wollongong, NSW).

 There were also 18 Meritorious awards announced on the night, the highest honour awarded by Surf Life Saving Australia for bravery. These awards, to both individuals and groups, recognise acts of bravery by members who went above and beyond, putting their lives on the line to rescue people who found themselves in trouble.

Image: Ali Day (Surfers Paradise, QLD) took out the 2022 Surf Sports Athlete of the Year and Hall of Fame inductee three-time Australian Ironwoman champion Georgia Miller (Northcliffe, QLD)