A STERLING team performance has seen the Lennox Head-Alstonville Surf Life Saving Club claim its first NSW Country Championship at the weekend.

Far North Coast clubs dominated the event at South West Rocks, with Byron Bay finishing runner-up and Cudgen Headland fourth.

With an extensive team of youngsters, Lennox Head-Alstonville coach Lou Wilson was always confident of claming the junior title, but praised the stamina of the rest of his squad for getting them over the line in the overall count.

"This was an amazing effort, a real team achievement," Wilson said.

"There was no focus on individual results, we simply entered as many events as we could and it paid dividends; we got across the line."

The team usually provides only one or two masters competitors but this year there were a dozen which resulted in an accrual of points better than in the past.

"It's a key to have a team of masters involved," he said.

"The young kids see the older competitors giving their all and it really stirs them on. I couldn't be prouder of the team."

Although the focus was on the team, there were some individual achievements that cannot be overlooked.

Some competitors challenged for events in three age divisions in order to pile on the points, with Nathan Gray the standout.

The 17-year-old won six gold medals including the open men's surf race, open flags and under-19 ironman; his haul also included six silver medals.

Team-mate Michael Barnett was only slightly overshadowed, bringing home five gold medals and seven silver including victory in the under-17 surf board race.

In the girls, 14-year-old Alana McGoldrick was the standout performer, dominating her age division to take out the three most coveted events - the surf swim race, surf board race and iron woman.

Coach Wilson will give his squad a few days off on returning home before preparing for the 2010 NSW State Championships which begin in seven weeks at Newcastle club Swansea-Belmont.

You can see the full Junior results here and the Open results here

Tanyn Lyndon has given his rivals a running start in the lead-up to the return of the Australian Surf Lifesaving Championships to the Gold Coast next March.

The 17-year-old Lennox Head-Alstonville water competitor has had a horror start to his campaign to add the Australian Under-19 ironman title to the Under-15 crown he won in 2007 and successive Under-17 titles for the past two years.

Lyndon’s domination of the event since the controversial switch of the national titles from Kurrawa to Perth in 2007 is in danger of being broken after a crippling leg injury in a premier reserve soccer match for the Lennox Head club in Lismore in May.

The former Lennox Head-Alstonville SLSC nipper broke a fibula, dislocated an ankle and tore ligaments which required surgery to have plates and seven screws inserted through the ankle. He was laid-up for 12 weeks and has since undergone extensive physiotherapy.

It has thrown Lyndon’s training program into turmoil and his competitive lead-up to the national titles comeback at Kurrawa is in disarray.

The injury has cost him a start in the rich Coolangatta Gold event last month and a place in the Nutri-Grain Ironman trials at Tugun.

This week he dropped another bombshell, announcing he was withdrawing from all competition, including local, branch and interbranch competition, in a bid to be fully fit for the NSW titles at Swansea-Belmont in February.

“Part of it was on doctors’ advice and the other part was my own intuition, knowing the injury needed more time to fully heel,” a disappointed Lyndon said.

“It means I’ll be just going straight into the State and national titles as prepared as I can be.

“I told myself, my coach Lou Wilson and my parents I wouldn’t be racing until February, and that’s where it stands.”

Lyndon, who turns 18 in January, is still sticking to a ‘patched up’ training schedule that includes an hour ski and board session in the morning and a 90-minute swimming session in the afternoon.

However, more physical leg-work is restricted to rehab-style jogging in shorter intervals.

He is, however, confident he can be fit enough to tackle the Under-19 national ironman title back at Kurrawa and is looking forward to the more challenging surf conditions.

They are sentiments shared by his coach, who conceded this week the young champion was looking ‘as fit as ever’.

“The enforced lay-off certainly presents its own challenges, but don’t under-estimate Tanyn’s stamina and will to win,” Wilson said.

“He came home strongly to defend his Under-17 title last year when it seemed all was lost, and he can certainly do it again in any surf Kurrawa is capable of throwing up.”

Lyndon is the only competitor to win three successive ironman age titles since they were introduced at national level five years ago.

If successful in winning four in March he will equal the senior level feats of Grant Kenny (Alexandra Headland) who won the national title from 1980 to 1983 and Ty Hurst who won his first national crown with North Burleigh in 1999 and then with Tugun in 2000, 2001 and 2002.

ZAHLI LOWE didn't see the shark approaching.  The morning was overcast, the water was murky and it hit her from behind.

But the chunk it took out of her paddleboard has left her with no doubts that she's a very lucky 17-year-old.

The Xavier College student was training in front of the Lennox Head Surf Club about 7am on Wednesday when the attack happened.

She and about 15 others were on their last paddle for the day and Zahli was about 20 metres from shore.

“It felt like someone had run straight into the back of me, but when I turned around there was no one there,” she said.  “I felt a bit spooked.”  Zahli kept paddling a little while longer before catching a wave back to shore.  “Then I noticed a big chunk missing out of the back corner,” she said.

Her attacker had left a bite mark about 15cm across in the fibreglass paddleboard.

Zahli's dad Darren and her coach Lou Wilson were on shore and her dad's first thought, like Zahli's, was that she had run into another board.  “I think he was a bit shocked when I told him what happened,” she said.

Her mum Teena couldn't believe it either.  “It wasn't until later that I started thinking how lucky she was,” Teena said. “I said to Zahli: 'If you were on the downward kick when it bit, your whole foot could have gone'.”

Southern Cross University senior lecturer in marine biology, Danny Bucher, said it wasn't unusual for sharks to take chunks out of surf craft.  “A lot of surfers report bites out of their board or getting a nudge while they're in the water,” he said.“Most of the time it's an exploratory bite to see whether what they're going for is edible or not and whether it's going to put up a fight.  “If they come away with a mouthful of fibreglass they're probably going to give up.”

Mr Bucher said it was likely to be a smaller shark, such as a whaler, mako or small tiger shark, rather than something like a great white.

Zahli said the attack would not put her off surf lifesaving - a sport she has been competing in since she was five.  “This morning I stuck to the lake (Ainsworth), but I'll be back in the water tomorrow,” she said.

Her mum Teena approves. “Sharks are everywhere and that's just part of the risk you take when you're in the water,” she said.

Lennox Head Surf Club coach Lou Wilson was yesterday playing down the attack.  “We don't know what it was. No one saw a shark,” he said.

The paddleboard was yesterday being repaired on the Gold Coast.