Fame, 30 years on, for champion Ballina boaties

THE bones may be stiff and the joints a little creaky but the memories are alive and well for Australia's greatest ever surfboat crew of Max and Brian Sidney, Warren Tulk, Cecil Denny and Lance Goldsmith

The Ballina Lighthouse-Lismore Surf Club boat crew charges through the break on the way to another Australian title back in the

By ADRIAN MILLER

THE bones may be stiff and the joints a little creaky but the memories are alive and well for Australia's greatest ever surfboat crew of Max and Brian Sidney, Warren Tulk, Cecil Denny and Lance Goldsmith.

Next month the former Ballina Lighthouse-Lismore Surf Life Saving Club crew will be inducted into the Surf Life Saving Australia Hall of Fame for their achievements in the late 1960s, when they won three consecutive Australian titles.

The team, who also took home bronze and silver medals at the 1966 and 1970 championships respectively, were the first country club to win the national title and remain the only crew to have won it three times in a row.

But, as Cecil Denny describes with a wry smile, there could easily have been a fourth.

"We had the biggest lead ever in the fourth year but as we were rowing out our buoy started drifting," he said.

"We had to row an extra 60 metres past the other buoys; we were still rowing out when we saw other boats turning behind us.

"We caught up to them and finished on the same wave as the crew that won. We hit the beach at the same time.

"We should have won that one."

Even without the fourth title they were practically unbeatable in the five-year period from 1966-1970, when they won every major honour in the sport.

Max was also picked for an Australian team, which sent 12 lifesavers to compete in South Africa at the height of apartheid in 1969.

The team will be inducted into the Hall of Fame during the Australian titles at Scarborough, Western Australia, in March, along with Ky Hurst and three other inductees.

They will be the first surfboat crew in the hall of fame.

"It was a great Christmas present," said Lance Goldsmith.

"It's a great honour to get, especially since we are from a country club."

Back in the 1960s the team trained six days a week, with five of those sessions on the Richmond River in Lismore, rather than in the surf.

It was this dedication and different training regime they attribute to their success.

"We all lived and worked in Lismore; four of us were in the building trade, so it was handy," Lance said.

"It was bloody hard work. In the early days we trained nine months of the year and we never took many days off," said Cecil.

They were feted as heroes when they returned from Tasmania after clinching their third crown and, in a first for a district sporting team, they received a civic welcome from the Lismore City Council.

Originally published as Fame, 30 years on, for champion Ballina boaties