Sports News

Hook, Line and Sinker with Lindsay Doust

Target catch changes with weather

Every now and then there is a catch that deserves a photo. John Bryant caught this very nice mangrove Jack not far from the boat ramp in Ballina. It was caught on just a 4kg line using a soft plastic lure. Another angler took in 2, 3 and 5 kilo flathead on lures on the one outing.

Fishing is picking up as the cold weather comes on. It will get harder and harder to catch bass in the coming weeks, but easier to get a feed of bream, tailor, blackfish and probably less flathead and whiting.

There have been some fair catches of bream from the Porpoise Wall at night, fair catches of tailor from the beaches but more from the headlands and walls. Blackfish are still patchy and flathead seem to be best upstream of Wardell through to Woodburn.

Keep watching this space as we have a special colouring competition for children to help fill in the long weekend - and there is a beaut prize for the winner.

Local martial artists excel on all fronts - Martial Arts

Jasmine Parer of the PCYC executes one of the shoulder throws that took her to victory at the Seki-Ryu Shiai Tournament in Beenleigh.

Martial arts clubs in the Lismore district continue to perform well above their weight at regional, state and national competitions. Over the past month three of the clubs, the Miyagi Kan karate school in Goonellabah, the Lismore PCYC judo club and Success Martial Art of South Lismore have all travelled to major tournaments with great success.

Miyagi Kan

The Miyagi Kan team competing in the Australian Open won six gold, six silver and seven bronze medals. To produce one of the best team results in the nation at the Open. This was an outstanding achievement for a regional club.

Gold medals were won by Dean Marshall, Ari Carr, Ian Tickle, Joel Parry, the Male Junior team and the Female Junior team.

Silver medals went to Ian Tickle, Tasman Wales, Danielle Rodgers, the Children Male team, Children female team and Tim Prior. Bronze medals were won by Ian and Matt Tickle, Ari Carr, Marcus Duroux (2), Tim Prior and Cristy Sule.

Additionally seven team members gained selection in the Australian squad: Dean Marshall; Marcus Duroux; Ari Carr; Tyson Hussein; Joel Parrey; Brendan Tickle and Tasman Wales.

Coaches Dean Marshall, Matt Walker and Jye Hussein credit the success of the club to a combination of the family atmosphere and the culture of the students having the opportunity to train alongside established champions and learn from their hard work habits.

Miyagi Kan train on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays and can be contacted on 622 1754 or 0422 559 484.

PCYC

The Lismore PCYC judo club has also been active on the road, having just come back from the Seki-Ryu Shiai Tournament in Beenleigh Qld.

Nicolas Casey-Sams won the under-10 boys division, beating three higher ranked opponents using his speciality throw tai-otoshi, 'the body-drop'. Jasmine Parer came first in the under-13 girls division. She won her first match of the day with an unstoppable soto-makikomi, 'the outer-winding throw', and the next with a strong tate-shiho-gatame, 'the straddle-four-corners pin'.

Cameron Black came first in the under-13 boys division. He won his matches with both excellent footsweeps and kesa-gatame, 'the neck-scarf pin'.

Karl and Cameron Brown both did extremely well at their first competition, in the difficult under-16yr boys division. Both had five opponents to contend with, yet earned places, coming 2nd and 3rd in the sub-60kg and sub-73kg boy's division. Charlie Laidlaw came 1st in the Men's sub-66kg division, and 3rd in the Men's open-weight division.

Lismore PCYC judo is held on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 5.30-6.30pm for juniors and 6.30-8pm for seniors.

Success Martial Arts

The "new guard" at Lismore's Success Martial Arts have also been meeting with success at championship level. The club has a 21-year history of success at the AKF Queensland Championships, but for 9 of their 13-strong team it was their first championship experience.

The SMA squad won a total of 14 medals, including four individual and two team gold, six silver and two bronze medals fro the recent titles at Carrara Sports Stadium on the Gold Coast.

According to the Success Martial Arts head coach, Richard Marlin, the standout performer was Daniel Donovan, winning his third consecutive Queensland state title. The 26 year old karate instructor led by example with an inspiring display of mental focus and athletic skill in both the semi final and final where he fought back from behind to secure victory.

Rhiannan Beardow, 9, followed in her mother's footsteps with her win in the Girls 9 Years Kumite division in her first state championships. Rhiannan is the daughter of Darylene Beardow (nee Conlan) a former national champion and Australia representative at the Oceania Championships in 1991, the Womens World Cup in Japan in 1991 and the World Championships in Spain in 1992.

The Individual gold medallists were Daniel Donovan in the Mens 60-65 kg division, Rhiannan Beardow in the Girls 9 years division, Melanie Sharpe in the Girls 12 years division and Tim Short in the Mens under 60kg division.

The gold medal winning girls 9-12 Years team consisted of Rhiannan Beardow, Jo Gardner-Marlin and Melanie Sharpe, The gold medal Girls 12-15 Years team consisted of Melanie Sharpe, Alex Gardner-Marlin and Chloe Allen.

Individual silver medals went to Rhiannan Beardow, Liam Huxter, Daniel Mitchell and Nelson Holtby.

The Boys 12-15 Years team (Dean Mills, Matthew Pearce, Daniel Mitchell, Liam Huxter) and the Open Mens team (Tim Short, Daniel Donovan and Nelson Holtby) also won silver.

Individual Bronze medallists were Jo Gardner-Marlin and Chloe Allen).

Shore sure shine - Softball

Jemmima Griffith, (above), pitcher for North Shore, was in outstanding form during the NSW Under 16 Softball Championships held at Lismore's Albert Park complex over the weekend. Despite pitching her fourth game of the day on Saturday (she would go on to pitch a fifth game later that day and a further three finals on Sunday) Jemmima held the Macleay Valley team to just one run to ensure Shore's 14-1 victory.

North Shore took the 2004 NSWSA U/16 Girls State Championship after defeating Sutherland 2-1 in a 7 innings thriller in the final at Lismore's Albert Park on Sunday to win the Shirley Fogarty Trophy.

The State Championships brought to Lismore teams from Georges River, Sutherland, Cumberland/Nepean, Newcastle, Hornsby, Penrith City, North Shore, Southern Districts, Campbelltown, Macleay Valley, Manly and Warringah

All of the teams played five preliminary games on Saturday and three grading games on Sunday.

The final came down to a showdown between North Shore and Sutherland. Sutherland had downed Campbelltown 4-nil and Manly Warringah 4-1 to make the final, while North Shore had to overcome Cumberland/Nepean 2-1 and Georges 5-nil.

Sutherland opened up the final with a run in the first innings thanks to a wild pitch that let Ashley Dean score the run after hitting a stand-up triple.

It took until the bottom of the fifth for North Shore to get on the scoreboard, but when they did it was in remarkably familiar fashion, as Peta Withell was able to score from third after a wild pitch by the Sutherland pitcher, Ashley Deen.

The game remained deadlocked until the bottom of the seventh and final innings. Withell again showed her slugging prowess by tripling over right field. Rebecca Vaughan's single to leftfield allowed Withell to score the go-ahead and winning run for Shore.

The salary cap must be working... - Rugby Union

It would be a brave soul that is prepared to bet against Southern Cross Uni and Grafton playing out a draw in Saturday's encounter at Grafton.

It wouldn't be on account of their respective records, as SCU sit atop the table while Grafton currently scrapes the bottom.

It wouldn't be on account of the result of their most recent encounter. That was a 45-10 romp in favour of the students.

It's on account of the fact that SCU and Grafton are the only two teams in the comp without a draw to their name. After only six rounds, and just 18 matches, there have been four draws in First grade. The most recent of these was a 17-all draw between Lismore and Ballina, the second draw of the season between the long-term rivals. It was also Ballina's third stymie for the season. Also proving that they have 'drawing-power' is Wollongbar, who have drawn two out of their six games and only just missed out on another draw on the weekend when they lost to SCU 20-19.

Even second-placed Casino managed to slip in a draw in Round Three.

Which leaves the draw-less SCU and Grafton, set to fight to the standstill to ensure a victory. Hang on, it may be time to check the dictionary or thesaurus, or whatever. Could it be that "fighting to a standstill" means fighting to a draw - Ohhh No!!!

Ballina will need to improve by an unconverted try when they host Casino if they want to register their fourth draw of the year as they lost by five points on the Bulls home turf in round two. If they can handle the Casino forwards Ballina should register a good win.

SCU should have enough talent to take on the road to bring home the points against Grafton while Lismore City will be looking to continue the early-season woes that have beset Wollongbar.

Gold Coast retains junior rugby trophy

Gold Coast completed a successful raid on the North Coast last weekend to retain the East Coast Junior Challenge Trophy.

The Coast took out the U/13 game 29 to 5; the U/14's 20-0 and the U/15's by 50-0, repeating wins by the Gold Coast in the first round in these divisions.

Far North Coast won the U/16's 15-14, while Gold Coast beat FNC U/17's 47-7.

Bears Down in Thriller - Baseball

Workers Club edged out a spirited Norths on Friday Night, winning 12-9 in a thriller.

The undefeated Workers Club has now moved three wins clear of Norths, closing their grip on the Rex Airlines Far North Coast Major League Premiership race.

Norths had four runs on the board by the middle of the third. However, Workers then let loose, crushing Norths in the process. By the time Norths came out of the dig, their 4-nil lead had became a five run deficit.

In the sixth innings Norths batters ran in four runs to lock the score at nine-all.

But the consistent Workers broke the deadlock in the 7th with a single run, before taking the game from Norths with another two in the 8th.

In the evening's other game, Brothers found their old form as they took out a spirited Redbirds side, 12-nil.

Next week, Brothers take on Norths, while Workers will face a struggling Easts.

Pennant finals come to town

Workers Heights and South Lismore are to host the Grade Two State Pennant Finals from June 12-14. Both clubs will conduct preliminaries over the first two days with the final to be held at the Lismore Heights club on the Monday.

The event brings together the 16 Zone Champions from Grade Two, a total of 192 bowlers, to compete fore the State Title.

The Pennant season started in February with District competition determining the local winners. From there it was on to Zone finals to qualify for the state decider, traditionally held over the Queens Birthday Long Weekend.

The winners of the Northern Rivers District Number Two title, Evans Head, went on to take the Zone One crown and will be looking to maintain the proud record of Northern Rivers sides at state pennant level.

Look for the competition draw in The Echo next week.

The NRDBA Singles title went to P Brown after a 31-19 victory over favourite David Ball, while the Reserve Singles title is now in the hands of W Nugent who overcame B Fisher by the same 31-19 margin.

Lismore City's Major Triples Final went to H Crethar R Bradford and G Haynes who combined to overcome L McLean D McLean and C Munn 22-16.

Home teams to suffer this weekend

Kyogle and Casino RSM, the two teams without a win to their names in 2004, started off Round Eight of the Westlawn Group One competition with an absolute nail-biter. Both performed impressively the previous week and they lined up on Thursday night for round one of their two-way tussle for the wooden spoon.

The spirit of the match was outstanding with Kyogle leading throughout, only to have casino catch them at the death, taking the victory on the conversion of a late try. Casino's slightly greater accuracy with the boot allowed them to win 32-30, even though Kyogle ran in more tries.

On Saturday evening Mullumbimby gave Lower Clarence a traditional 'touch up", dismissing the visitors 56-12. Even the most parochial Mullumbimby supporter could not have anticipated the score line blowout. Mullumbimby have firmly stamped their name as favourites for the 2004 premiership crown.

Marist Brothers have shown that their intensity can drop off, a bad sign for a team that aspires to winning finals matches. Although they won on Sunday against Grafton Ghosts 32-26 it was anything but convincing. The team that used to put away inferior teams with such professional élan in the past is starting too look a little lacklustre when the chips are down. They won the previous week against Kyogle in a game that brought great credit to their opposition. But, of course, premierships art won at the end of the season, not in the middle of winter.

South Grafton may be finding the way back to their 2003 form if their comprehensive 58-28 shellacking of Byron Bay is anything to go by. Home teams could be in for trouble this weekend as Kyogle will host Ballina while Lower Clarence will not be looking forward to their in-form neighbours South Grafton turning up for a visit. Brothers will travel to Byron as favourites as will Mullumbimby when they take to the road for their game against Grafton Ghosts.

Beef dilutes the Irish - Golf

The lure of Beef Week celebrations reduced the field for Casino's Irish 2-Ball last Saturday, despite the excellent conditions prevailing.

For those that are unfamiliar with the concept, an Irish 2-ball is a stableford event with the first six holes were scored as a best ball, holes seven to thirteen as an aggregate, and for the final six holes it is the worst score of each pair that is counted. Got that? Allan Schier and Stephen Schultz went out with the sparrows and posted a score that proves something about early-birds and worms.. They had 17 points for the best ball, 28 for the aggregate section, and 8 for the worst ball, giving them a winning 53-point total.

The runners up, Myles McDowell and Tony Snow matched the winners in all but the aggregate section, where they managed 27pts to the winners 28, to fall one point short.

Honour Roll

A tragedy in progress - Soccer FNC

After a promising start Alstonville's Premier Division season is turning into a tragedy in progress. Saturday's five-nil capitulation to Workers comes on the back of an 8-1 loss to Byron Bay. Their season isn't completely over, but if they don't develop a system down back they can kiss goodbye to the top division.

Byron's fortunes turned full circle when Casino demolished them 7-2 on the weekend, stretching Casino's lead on the top of the ladder to three points.

Their nearest rivals, Italo Stars were held to a 2-all draw by Rovers after holding a two goal lead at the break.

Ballina are getting their season back on track after another win, this time a 2-nil home victory over Thistles. Bangalow continue to struggle, going down 3-nil to Maclean.

Byron host Bangalow this Saturday and will be in no mood for a repeat of their collapse against Casino. Alstonville will have to travel to play an in-form Ballina in a game that could turn into (in Aussie Rules parlance) a real percentage booster for the home side.

Stars will again cross town, this time to take on Thistles, now a shadow of its former strength. Maclean will find Rovers a difficult visitor and could be happy with a draw by the final whistle.

Casino will look to continue their strong start to the season at Workers but may find the opposition strike force too difficult to contain.

Byron keep the Cup overflowing

Byron Bay continued their two-year unbeaten run in cups competitions with a 4-1 win over Rovers on Tuesday. Byron now move into the final eight where they will face Woodburn.

In the Soccer FNC Women's First Division Byron had a convincing 5-1 victory over Thistles while Rovers and Lennox slugged out a nil-all draw. Workers found themselves in the unusual position of having to work hard all the way to the end against SCU, escaping with a 1-0 result. In the most exciting match of the round Woodburn took the points against Ballina 4-2.

The match of the round this week is the Friday night encounter between ladder leaders Workers and their closest rivals, Byron Bay, to be played at Rec 12 on Friday night from 8pm.

CHS Soccer

At the recent CHS Boys and Girls soccer carnivals, held at Armadale and Parklea respectively, the North Coast teams finished third and fifth respectively.

The Boys team took the strong Sydney South team, including six players from Westfield Sports High to extra time in the semi-final. FNC Premier Division start player for Byron Bay, Adam Bostock, won the coaches player award while Ryan Gray and Lucas McPherson were selected for the CHS No 2 state side with Bill Latimer and Joel Gosper named as shadow reserve players.

The Girls team missed out on a place in the semis on goal difference and won their fifth-sixth grading game. Players selected to state level were; Erin Herd CHS 1sts, Rachel Cooper CHS 2nds and Kara Sutton and Misha Wood were selected as shadow reserve players.

2004 Golden Boot

Premier Division

12 - Tom Guttormsen (Workers)

9 - Adam Bostock (Byron Bay); Matthew Olley (Workers)

7 - Bruce Morhaus

Women's First Division

11 - Krystal Gollan (Workers)

9 - Rose Argent (Byron Bay)

7 - Emma Turner (Ballina); Chloe Dunsmore (Byron Bay); Renee Cowan (Workers) Katie Parker (Rovers)

Tony Hawk takes to the waves

This is a photo that we just had to run - Former World Champion surfer, Australia's Tom Carroll, (right) was invited to Tavarua Island in Fiji last week for the Kelly Slater Invitational where Slater demonstrated a new competition format to a select list of surfing greats and celebrities. Sharing the wave with Carroll are skateboard champion and world-famous pixilation Tony Hawk (left) and 1970's muso Jackson Browne (centre). Photographer: Pierre Tostee © ASP Tostee

Byron Bay's Michael Cooney and Ballina's Matt Tyndale won their way through to the State Bodyboarding Titles with outstanding performances in the Northern Bodyboarding Regionals.

The Regionals were held in 3-4 foot surf off the Ballina North Wall beach on Saturday morning, attracting over 50 of the best bodyboarders from Forster to the Queensland border. Other local bodyboarders still with a hope to make it through to the Avoca Beach state finals include Ben Martineau, Chris Clarson and Jason Taylor.

Cooney and Tyndale qualify

Byron Bay's Michael Cooney and Ballina's Matt Tyndale won their way through to the State Bodyboarding Titles with outstanding performances in the Northern Bodyboarding Regionals.

The Regionals were held in 3-4 foot surf off the Ballina North Wall beach on Saturday morning, attracting over 50 of the best bodyboarders from Forster to the Queensland border. Other local bodyboarders still with a hope to make it through to the Avoca Beach state finals include Ben Martineau, Chris Clarson and Jason Taylor.

Casino improvement to be tested

After registering the club's first ever victories in successive weeks over the past two rounds Casino faces a big task this Saturday when it hosts Byron Shire.

Byron, the reigning premiers, have started the season undefeated, and basically, unchallenged and will be looking to keep their perfect run going when the split round is completed this weekend.

The other two games of the round were held last Saturday.

Nimbin continued to struggle with a 17-10-112 to 12-3-75 loss to Ballina. The loss leaves them sitting squarely on the bottom of the ladder, behind Murwillumbah on percentage. Ballina were too strong around the ground for the Demons who are now struggling to put a fit side on the field.

Lismore were able to put their previous week's sluggish start against Ballina behind them to take a winning advantage early in their match against the Murwillumbah Hawks. The Hawks were relentless in their efforts to stay in touch with the Swans and, in the end, only lost by 20 points.

Yerrrr Out!

Hornsby pitcher Lanika Mylvaganam watches on after fielding the ball to Amy Watson at first base in time to run out Penrith City's Stacy Abbot. Penrith went on to win the preliminary round 3-1 at the NSW State U/16 Softball Championships held at the Albert Park Baseball Complex last weekend.