Surf lifesaving master champs success for NCW tema rider Leigh! Our very own Leigh Anderson did a sterling job out in Belgium recently. Here’s Leigh herself to tell us what went down.
‘So our merry team of 7 set off to Belgium for the European surf lifesaving masters championships towards the end of Sept.’
‘On race days it was around 11c with a 25/30mph cross wind. That was causing a messy 2ft swell which was coming cross shore rather than on, added with a really strong side sweep it made some quite tricky conditions. That played in our favour really as we’re used to what the Cornish coast throws at us and far more comfortable in surf than a lot of Europeans. You can see from the results, Polzeath, fellow Cornish team Crantock and French team Biaritz were generally fairing the best.’
‘Individually I managed to retain my ski title for the 3rd time (yay!). I also successfully defended my ironwoman title (a multi discipline event of ski, board, swim and run legs, similar concept to triathlon I suppose ) which I was stoked with. That was a hard race and I was so pleased to win. For the first time, I also won the board race, improving on my 2nd last time in 2019. So a near enough clean sweep for me if we ignore the swim which I mainly used as a warm up.’
‘I’m particularly pleased with my results after I herniated a disc in my neck early summer and was out for 2 months. No exercise at all let alone training in the sea. That meant by nationals I wasn’t fit enough yet so my results there were what I expected but still disappointing.’
‘Teams wise one of our teammates did her Achilles in the very first event so she was out so there was a bit of juggling around but we managed to win the taplin. (One person does board one does ski one swim) which is the one all the clubs want to win as it shows depth across all disciplines. When the men won theirs too we were flying high!’
‘Couple of other medals in team events then to the after party to catch COVID and spend a week near enough in bed!!’
‘Huge thanks to Mark and Laura at NCW for their support and looking forward to getting back into training for worlds next year!’