ISAAC Sanderson became Wauchope-Bonny Hills Surf Club's latest Australian champion with success in the under 14 men's two kilometre beach run recently.
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The Wauchope Bonny Hills Surf Club enjoyed one of its most successful days ever on Saturday at the Australian Championships at North Kirra in Queensland.
Joining Lewis and Sanderson in the team of four was Hugh Stewart and Taylor Sargeant.
Sanderson led from the early stages of the gruelling two-kilometre beach run in a field of 48 which was held on the softest of sand.
As he turned at the one kilometre mark the Wauchope Bonny Hills supporters became nervous as runners from Cronulla and Alexandra Headland moved up and began to apply pressure to the local athlete.
Sanderson showed he was made of stern stuff, gritted his teeth and surged at the 1.25 kilometre mark to move away from the chasing pack and go on to win by a relatively comfortable 10 metres.
The gold medal is the club's first for a long time, and bodes well for Isaac's future.
Lewis put in a phenomenal effort to claim bronze in the under 15 two-kilometre beach run conducted only 10 minutes before Isaac's event.
Lewis has previously represented NSW in cross country and claimed his national medal with a gutsy run in a very strong field of 63 runners.
As he often does, the youngster dropped back slightly early, turning at the one kilometre mark in fourth place behind athletes from Redhead (Newcastle), Cronulla (Sydney) and Half Moon Bay (Victoria).
Around the half way mark Lewis made his customary mid-race surge.
Down the final stretch the enthralled spectators urged on their runner, and while closing the gap the finish loomed just too soon for the Bonny Hills local and he finished a couple of metres behind the Redhead and Cronulla runners.
Both Taylor Sargeant and Hugh Stewart competed with distinction, Stewart making the final of the under 14 surf race, placing 28th in the final field of 32 - coming through a quarter final and semi-final along the way amongst some of the best young surf swimming talent in Australia and New Zealand.
Stewart also made the quarter finals of the ironman and rescue tube.
Sargeant competed with a bad shoulder and missed the quarters of her surf race by one place, but backed up to make the quarter-finals in the rescue tube race thereby being in the top 32 competitors in Australia.
The action continues with the masters competing on Monday and Tuesday and the open carnival running from Wednesday to Sunday.