All in the families

Forty years-plus female champion lifesaver silver medallist Toni Heaton with her sons Trent and Scott.

Janet Lindsay

BUNDABERG Surf Life Saving Club's Wendy Johnston claimed her maiden state title at the Queensland Surf Rescue Championships at Dicky Beach at the weekend.

The vibrant and hard-working mother won the 30-39 years female champion lifesaver event in her first shot at the title.

She was more happy for her children Brodie and Abby, who each bagged bronze medals in the same event, in the under-17 male and U-14 female divisions respectively.

Clubmate Erin Gibson was the district's only dual medallist at the championships, competing out of her age to clinch a distinguished silver in the open female champion lifesaver.

She also combined with Emma Finnis, Hayley Bowman and Teisha Towner in the Bundaberg I team for gold in the U-17 patrol competition.

Elliott Heads' Toni Heaton, who was making her debut at state level, picked up the district's other medal, a silver in the 40-plus years champion lifesaver.

Johnston said she had won a few state medals in the surf swim in previous years, but this was her first season doing champion lifesaver and she was thrilled.

"To win three state medals is a very cool thing to happen but I'm just so proud of Abby and Brodie too. He went in as a younger age group and it's nice to see the repercussions of all the work we have done. The whole family has worked together," she said.

She paid tribute to Gibson's mother Janet Lindsay, who she said had directed the training for all Bundaberg team members for several years, and Jocelyn Bowman, who has been team manager during that time.

"Janet has given a lot of her own time to help all kids through the resuscitation, theory and live patient assessment, and Jocelyn has also been great. I want to acknowledge a real team effort," Johnston said.

"Brodie has also done a lot of work with (Wide Bay Capricorn Branch regional manager) Craig. So many people contribute to the success of any athlete.

"We would like Australian medals now. Abby is not old enough for the nationals, she has gone as far as she can go this season, but hopefully Brodie and I can do well at the nationals."

Lindsay was ecstatic with the efforts of all the Bundaberg team, but she described her daughter's performance as outstanding.

"To compete in the open champion lifesaver and claim silver while still eligible for under-17 is a big effort. Erin has worked hard for it," Lindsay said.

Heaton said she took up life- saving only about five years ago after her family moved to Bundaberg from Brisbane, and began competing only last season.

"But I only started training for champion lifesaver a month before the branch championships in mid-December. I had never got into that side of lifesaving before, but I won branch at the first time competing in champion lifesaver," she said.

"It was my first time ever competing at state and I was stoked with that one. I'd like to improve to gold next time but I'm very happy with silver."

Heaton's two sons Trent and Scott also competed well at the championships in champion lifesaver, in U-17 and U-15 respectively, while she said her daughter Liana was not old enough to do the event yet but had trained with them in preparation for next season.

Her husband Jeff is also heavily involved in the club in patrols and competing in other things.

Despite having qualified to do so, Heaton said she was unlikely to compete at the nationals this year.

"I don't know whether I could do with that stress but I've got the branch (lifesaving) championships in a couple of weeks at Yeppoon and I'll do the five individual events plus any team events," she said.

Lindsay said their U-17 patrol team also did exceptionally well.

"Our open and U-15 teams gave it all a good go too," she said.

"A big thank you too to Scott Heaton, who stepped in to being a Bundaberg team member for a while, as we had a member get sick and did not take a reserve. The U-15 team would not have competed and gained valuable experience if it was not for him.

"The first aid competition is great too but the other clubs are very focused on their competition, to the detriment of other events.

"Bundaberg gets in and has a go at everything and the experience gained from these competitions helps us all in our patrolling on the beach, no matter what the result."

Finnis narrowly missed an individual medal when fourth in the U-17 female champion lifesaver, while Elliott Heads' Liam Wootton was also a close fourth in the U-14 male division.