Sunshine Coast Local News
Who’ll be among our next generation of world champion netballers? The leading candidates will line up for their shot during the National 21 and Under Netball Championships at Caloundra Indoor Stadium from Tuesday March 10 to Sunday March 15.
Sunshine Coast Council and Netball Queensland organised a welcome and preview on Thursday (5th March) featuring Queensland Firebird Beryl Friday.
There will also be free Firebird Coaching Clinics next Wednesday 11 March, 3.45pm-4.30pm.
Maroochy Junior Rugby League Club
A new Facility Development Plan for Maroochydore Junior Rugby League Club site adopted by Sunshine Coast Council provides a long term vision for this important sport and recreation complex.
Division 7 Councillor Ted Hungerford said the Maroochydore Junior Rugby League Club site at Wises Rd, Maroochydore was an important sport, recreation and community facility utilised by the Sunshine Coast community.
“The development of the Facility Development Plan is a recommendation from Council’s Sunshine Coast Sport and Active Recreation Plan 2011 – 2026,” Cr Hungerford said.
“This Plan seeks to confirm and prioritise the next stages of development for this district sport and recreation precinct in line with Council’s strategic direction.
“The adoption of the Maroochydore Junior Rugby League Club Facility Development Plan reviews the existing site uses and ensures the new features complement and enhance community use over the next 20 years.
“This is particularly important to improve overall sport and recreation opportunities for users of the complex.
“Vegetation, waterways, traffic, residential development in close proximity and how the site relates to the regional sporting network were investigated in the development of the facility development plan.
“The Facility Development Plan builds on the existing infrastructure to reflect best value-for-money, while retaining flexibility for changes in future use.
“I would like to acknowledge the State Government who contributed $37,500 for the Facility Development Plan. This is an excellent example of State and Local Government working together to bring the community an improved sport, recreation and community facility.
Throughout the Plan’s development, sporting trends, population projections and usage patterns were analysed. Extensive consultation occurred including individual meetings, workshops and surveys with user groups and the community.
The Maroochydore Junior Rugby League Club site is home to a range of sport and recreation organisations includingthe Maroochydore Junior Rugby League Club (MJRLC), Maroochydore / Coolum Rugby League, Maroochydore Oztag, Spartans Gridiron, Maroochydore Touch, Shamrock Boxing Club and is also utilised by a number of local schools.
Key recommendations of the Facility Development Plan include:
Mia Johnstone and Emma Sykes – Queensland Secondary School Touch reps
Sunshine Coast Stadium, Kawana Sports Precinct and the wider Sunshine Coast will be on show to thousands when the National Youth Touch Football Championships are played on September 17-20.
Mayor Mark Jamieson said almost 4000 people would visit from outside the region to compete in and watch the championships.
“This national event is bringing 34 teams from around Australia and New Zealand to contest the championships – with the athletes, their family, friends and support team, there will be a lot of people here enjoying the region and spending at our local businesses,” Mayor Jamieson said.
Tourism, Sport and Major Events portfolio councillor Jason OPray said council was a major sponsor of the championships.
“We are proud to be sponsoring this event – we’ve hosted it in 2010, 2011 and 2013 already – it’s bringing Australia’s best touch football talent to the Coast for everyone to see at Sunshine Coast Stadium,” Cr OPray said.
“This is a unique competition with both school and community teams playing in a national championship event.
“I wish the best of luck to all the competitors.”
Councillor for Division 3, home of Sunshine Coast Stadium, Peter Cox said the Sunshine Coast Stadium was the Sunshine Coast’s premier sporting facility.
“The precinct injects millions of dollars into the local economy by attracting international, national, state and local games across a range of codes, training camps, travelling shows, community events as well as major music and entertainment events,” Cr Cox said.
The championships will run in conjunction with its 2014 ‘State of Origin’ series, which will be played on September 19-20. Ex-rugby league legend Scott Prince will once again be representing Queensland in the over-30 State of Origin competition. A 90-minute highlights package of that event will be aired Fox Sports 1 on Wednesday, October 8 at 10.30am.
Jocelyn McCallum In Action 2014
Jocelyn McCallum
Cooroy softball product Jocelyn McCallum is on her way to the Netherlands to compete in the ISF XIV Women’s World Championship on August 15th – 24th.
Jocelyn is 1 of 17 athletes to be selected for the Aussie Spirit team which includes fellow Queenslanders Brenda De Blaes, Melinda Weaver, Jodie Bowering, Erin Thras and Jade Wall.
The Aussie Spirit are slated to play Chinese Taipei, Italy, Great Britain, Netherlands, United States, Botswana and Dominican Republic in the pool stages of the tournament.
Jocelyn was selected for the team after standout performances at the recent Australian Open Women’s National Championships and Edebone-Weber Shield, held in December last year and recently in July.
The Australian Women’s team departed Australia last week bound for Japan and Italy where they will play warm-up games before journeying on to the Netherlands for the World Championships.
Jan Kopecky flings his Skoda into a bend on the International Rally of Queensland. Kopecky (right) and co-driver Pavel Dresler, both from the Czech Republic, celebrate their victory in Imbil on Sunday afternoon. (Jeremy Rogers Pic)
The driver from the Czech Republic brought his Indian-run MRF Skoda Fabia to the finish in the Mary Valley township of Imbil 1.9 seconds ahead of Scott Pedder, in a Renault, after dominating the weekend.
Mazda2 driver Brendan Reeves was third and simultaneously maintained his lead over Pedder in the East Coast Bullbars Australian Rally Championship, which was run concurrently.
Kopecky, this year competing for the first time away from Europe’s familiar tarmac road surfaces, mastered the region’s gravel forest tracks with apparent ease.
He won six of yesterday’s 10 competitive Special Stages and was rarely troubled after teammate and closest rival Gaurav Gill of India crashed on the fourth test. Today, Pedder won the three morning stages, but Kopecky put the hammer down to claim the last two stages of 36 kilometres each and clinch a satisfying result.
“We’ve travelled a long way from home in the Czech Republic to this rally, so it’s a special feeling to hear our country’s national anthem on the podium,” Kopecky said after the event.
“It’s great to win and we are now leading the championship – but there are still three rounds to go and I hear the next event in Malaysia can be very difficult.
“The stages here were beautiful and very challenging. It’s been a great experience for us to be here and hopefully we’ll be able to use this for the rest of the season – every kilometre on gravel is valuable to us.
“Today it was incredibly slippery in a few places (after overnight rain), even more than yesterday. Because the roads were dry when we did our reconnaissance, they felt quite different today.”
Scott Pedder was thrilled to get his two-wheel drive Renault to second place outright and first in the Australian championship section.
“I didn’t have much more to throw at it, but we won three stages today and two yesterday, which was pretty good.
“It’s fantastic to have two G2 cars (G2 category – Pedder and Reeves) on the podium and prove that Australian rallying is pretty strong.”
Canberra’s Neal Bates maintained his customary position at the front of the field in the Australian Classic Rally Challenge. His progress to first place in his all-conquering RA30 Toyota Celica world rally replica was merely interrupted by an electrical fault yesterday and he won 14 of the event’s 15 stages.
After being four minutes behind at the end of the Saturday leg, he finished almost seven minutes ahead of second-placed Jack Monkhouse, in a Datsun 180B SSS.
Organisers cancelled the fifth of today’s scheduled six Special Stages after losing time due to an accident and escaped cattle.
However, Event Director Paul Woodward said the rally had been another important success on the Sunshine Coast’s major sports events calendar.
“We had good attendances at the weekend forest spectator points in the Mary Valley and an extremely good crowd at our Ceremonial Start at Caloundra’s King Beach on Friday night,” Mr Woodward said,
“Dedicated television coverage from this weekend, including scenic footage of the Sunshine Coast and Hinterland, will go around Australia and to almost 120 countries. There will be even more international media coverage than domestic, with reporters or crews present from China’s CCTV network and four Indian daily newspapers, including the Times of India which circulates 2.3 million copies a day.
“We have also reached agreement to return to Caloundra and our headquarters at the Oaks Oasis Resort for the next three years and have had the opportunity this weekend to showcase the excitement, colour and reach of our event to influential representatives of the Sunshine Coast tourism and business communities.
“With good growth in prospect, we’re already looking forward to bringing another field of world-class drivers to the coast in 2015.”
RESULTS (Provisional)
FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship (Rd 3), Day One of Two:
1 J Kopecky (CZ)/P Dresler (CZ) Skoda Fabia S2000 Total time ? hr ?? min. ??? sec.
2 S Pedder (Aus)/D Moscatt (Aus) Renault Clio R3 1 min. 27.3 sec. behind first
3 B Reeves (Aus)/R Gelsomino (Aus) Mazda2 +02:29.5
4 M van Tuinen (Aus)/E Kelly (Aus) Subaru Impreza +03:12.3
5 M Pedder (Aus)/C Dowling (Aus) Mitsubishi Lancer +03:30.1
6 J Xu (CN)/S Liu (CN) Skoda Fabia S2000 +04:43.9
7 A Masamura (JP)/A Nakagawa (JP) Mitsubishi Lancer +05:15.9
8 T Wilde (Aus)/A McLoughlin (Aus) Renault Clio R3 +05:50.5
9 A Coppin (Aus/T Batten (Aus) Citroen DS3 R3 +06:42.8
10 M Young (NZ)/M Read (NZ) Proton Satria Neo +11:28.8
[Video]Over 700 eager Sunshine Coast kids swam, rode and ran their way around the Sanitarium Weet-Bix Kids TRYathlon course today as part of the biggest kid’s triathlon series in the world.
Local kids, aged seven to 15 years, received a gold medal today from a host of sporting heroes for giving activity a TRY and completing the event at Stockland Park.
“The Weet-Bix Kids TRYathlon isn’t about getting the fastest time or winning the race – it is about taking part, having fun and being healthy,” said Weet-Bix Kids TRYathlon Ambassador and Cricketer Brett Lee.
The Sanitarium Weet-Bix Kids TRYathlon is designed for kids aged 7-15 no matter their abilities or experience. Every kid who takes part is a champion and receives a gold medal from sporting heroes at the event.
“I am delighted that nine out of ten (94%) parents surveyed believe the program boosted their child’s self-confidence [1],” said Sanitarium General Manager of Marketing, Daniel Derrick.
“It is great to see the kids bursting with pride as they cross the finish line, and all are rewarded equally with a medal from some of our great sporting hero ambassadors.”
Now in its 16th year, the Sanitarium Weet-Bix Kids TRYathlon series continues to encourage kids to get healthy and active while building confidence to “give it a TRY” in a fun and rewarding environment.
The Weet-Bix Kids TRYathlon includes twelve events held across the country from January to May and will benefit an estimated 18,400 Australian children who will participate this year.
The Queensland Government is committed to getting as many Queenslanders as active as possible starting at a grass-roots level through their support of the Weet-Bix Kids TRYathlon.
For event information visit www.try.weetbix.com.au
Mark Goodwin (COO Sunstate Group Queensland with Luke Wyatt (Rugby Manager – Sunshine Coast Rugby with the cup to be called the 2014 SGU Cup
The Sunshine Coast Rugby Union is pleased to announce SGQ as the naming rights sponsor of the Sunshine Coast Rugby Unions A Grade Competition to be known as the SGQ Cup.
SGQ Director & COO – Construction, Mr Mark Goodwin said SGQ welcomes the opportunity to support Sunshine Coast Rugby, by providing sponsorship in a local community sport. We hope this may be a start of a long relationship.
The Chairman of the SCRU Board Mr Glenn Ferguson welcomed the new partnership with SGQ saying “It’s exciting to have a major Sunshine Coast based company support local sport. The new sponsorship agreement with SGQ is good fit and speaks wonders for our competitions ability to connect business with the local community”.
Laura Poncini surfing JAN JUC in Victoria during the 2012 the Rip Curl GromSearch – (image Surfing Australia Media)
Australia’s number one ranked surfer heading into the 16 year age division at next month’s World Junior Surfing Titles in Ecuador is focused on nothing but success as she puts the finishing touches to her world title campaign.
Caloundra’s Laura Poncini is enjoying her last few days at home before she embarks on a massive month of international surfing.
The rising sixteen year old will be Australia’s number one ranked surfer in her age division for the world titles but she says that brings no added pressure. “I place high expectations on myself, so being ranked the top Aussie doesn’t make it any more difficult. The best surfers in the world will be there so it’s a great test.” Poncini said.
2014 is shaping as a major break out year for the teenager. She is ranked 44 in the world on the QS World Tour, but for her age is the second highest ranked. “It’s been a good start to the year and I really need to keep getting the results so my ranking improves. I’ll keep doing junior and senior events, with my ultimate goal to be on the tour.”
Poncini will have a major opportunity to improve her rankings at the end of April when she heads to New Zealand for the Taranaki 6 Star, where she’ll contest both the junior and senior event.
The Queensland Champion finished third at the One Star Piping Hot Surf Festival in January and since then hasn’t been outside the top 20.
Two of the biggest events on the dragon boating calendar at Lake Kawana in March and April.
Sunshine Coast Council’s Stockland Park Lake Kawana will welcome more than 2000 paddlers when it hosts two of the biggest events on the dragon boating calendar in March and April.
The Queensland Dragon Boat Federation (QDBF) will host the 2014 State Dragon Boat Championships at Lake Kawana on March 29 and 30. Clubs from all over Queensland will go head to head in 200m, 500m and 2000m race events from 8am to 4pm.
The Queensland State Championships is the lead up event to the 2014 Australian Championships, which will be held at Lake Kawana from April 15 to 20. This event will see 1000 paddlers from across the nation compete over the five days of competition, from Junior racing through to Masters.
Dragon Boating is the fastest growing team water sport in the world, with an estimate of nearly fifty million people participating in the sport annually.
Australian Dragon Boat Federation (AusDBF) and Oceania Dragon Boat Federation President, Kel Watt said this high quality event and top racing couldn’t come at a better time for Australian Dragon Boating.
“During the Championships AusDBF will play host to members of the International Dragon Boat Federation, as well as the NZ Dragon Boat Association and Ghana DBA.”
Division 3 Councillor Peter Cox said it is a real honour for Lake Kawana to be host venue for both the State and Australian Dragon Boat Championships.
“Council is committed to working towards a sustainable economy by attracting major events like these to the region,” Cr Cox said.
“Lake Kawana is a fantastic venue and the Sunshine Coast is fast becoming known as a leading destination for sporting events.
“The atmosphere will be electric at Lake Kawana with competitors fighting it out and spectators taking up prime position on the foreshore to cheer on their favourite team. People who have not seen dragon boat racing before are invited to become part of this exciting event by cheering on from the sidelines.”
For more information on the 2014 Dragon Boat Championships, visit www.ausdbf.com.auor www.stocklandpark.com.au
PALMER Coolum Resort’s golf course is bringing back one of the popular amateur tournaments it was long renowned for – the Thursday Legends.
The Thursday Legends is played from the championship tees, giving local amateur golfers the chance to experience competitive action from the perspective of the professionals who have graced the hallowed turf.
The Stableford competition will be played on the last Thursday of each month for the remainder of the year, with the grand final slated for Sunday 7 December 2014.
The winner of each tournament will qualify for the grand final, but there will also be monthly prizes on offer with players who manage to score 37 points or more winning the choice of a free Palmer Golf shirt (up to $60 value), or 18 holes of golf including shared cart (conditions apply).
Entry to any of the Thursday Legends competitions is $85.00 per player, which includes 18 holes of golf and a shared cart. Bookings are essential.
“The name Thursday Legends is synonymous with this resort and we’re thrilled to bring it back,” said Palmer Coolum Resort Director of Golf, Paul Crangle.
“The Thursday Legends format presents a unique challenge to the players because they play from the championship tees, which is where some of the world’s top golfers plied their trade.
“I’m sure many golfers on the Sunshine Coast will be very pleased to see the Thursday Legends return,” he said.
For more information on Palmer Coolum Resort’s Thursday Legends competition, or to book a round of golf, please call the pro shop on (07) 5449 3366.
Palmer Coolum Resort’s golf course was recently rated as the number one course on the Sunshine Coast by leading golf magazine, Australian Golf Digest.
Triathletes Jess Hoskin and Kelly Ann Perkins with Councillor Jason O’Pray and Triathalon Coach & Commentator Toby Coote
On the eve of the Mooloolaba Triathlon Festival, Sunshine Coast Council has joined nationally-acclaimed triathlon coach Toby Coote to acknowledge the Sunshine Coast as a top training spot for athletes.
“And we’ve put a new e-book together to provide a single source of information for athletes and coaches around Australia,” Tourism Sport and Major Events portfolio councillor Jason OPray said.
“The Sunshine Coast has many high quality training venues and facilities, which are all detailed in the new eBook ‘Sports Training on the Sunshine Coast: A Natural advantage for Athletes’ and the Mooloolaba Triathlon’s longevity is a classic example of the Coast’s winning location for sporting events.
“The Tri is in its 22nd year and has contributed to the Sunshine Coast’s brilliant reputation for staging major events and as an ideal training destination for many sports.
“Hosting major events like the triathlon and encouraging athletes to train on the Coast contribute to council’s goal of a sustainable economy.”
Sunshine Coast Triathlon Academy coach and Mooloolaba Triathlon commentator Toby Coote said the regions had become a hub for producing exceptional sporting talent.
“Our magnificent region has top aquatic centres, cycling facilities and running tracks on the Coast, and some great on-road training routes for triathletes,” Mr Coote said.
“I have worked with many athletes, from Australia and overseas, who have represented their regions, states and countries and I have found the Sunshine Coast is one of the world’s best places to train.”
Mr Coote – who is shortlisted for Triathlon Australia Age Group Coach of the Year – founded the Sunshine Coast Tri Academy, which is based at Quad Park.
The eBook, a tool to encourage athletes and coaches to train on the Coast in the lead up to the 2018 Commonwealth Games, details sporting venues and facilities across the entire Sunshine Coast region. Our picture perfect location and pristine environment provide a natural advantage for athletes.
Former Test Cricketer, Kerry O’Keeffe, will be bringing his wit, wisdom, penchant for sport and larger than life personality to the Sunshine Coast as the guest speaker at the 2nd President’s Sports Luncheon at the Mooloolaba Surf Club on 14th March.
Widely regarded as the funniest cricket commentator in the world with his quick and wicked sense of humour, his knowledge and interest in all things sport won him a gig as a regular guest on the popular TV show “The Fat” and his recent retirement from the ABC caused a stir within the cricket community.
As a speaker, Kerry enjoys an excellent range from comedy – with a kit bag of hilarious sporting yarns – through to his passionate and inspiring addresses on motivation – ”Being the best you can be”.
Kerry has experienced a number of highs and lows throughout his sporting and personal life … his failure to adapt to the setbacks and adversity of his initial cricket after-life has forged strong emotions on that subject. His firm belief in honest communication and mentoring in the work place and on the sporting field forms the basis of an anecdote-spiced presentation sure to have guests laughing their socks off one minute and searching within the next. The man with the most distinctive laugh in electronic media is both entertaining and provocative.
Event: The President’s Sports Lunch
Date: Friday 14 March 2014
Speaker: Kerry O’Keeffe
Time: 12.00noon for 12.30pm start, finish at 3.00pm
Cost: $100 per person, includes sumptuous two-course meal and drinks package courtesy of Castlemaine XXXX.
