Junior Sports Star 2016: North Bondi Surf Club member Hamish Donkin rising up the ranks

NORTH Bondi Surf Club is proving to be a hotbed of talented youngsters, with Hamish Donkin the latest product set to make a mark at the top level.

Surf Life saver Hamish Donkin from North Bondi Surf Club. Picture: John Appleyard

NORTH Bondi Surf Club is proving to be a hotbed of talented youngsters, with Hamish Donkin the latest product set to make a mark at the top level.

Hamish, 15, is this week’s Junior Sports Star nominee after a string of top places at the state and national level earlier this year.

The Vaucluse resident has been a nipper since he was five years old and a member of North Bondi for the past four years under the tutelage of former ­ironmen Jim Walker and Scott Thomson.

In March at the NSW State Championships, he won gold in the surf race, ­silver in the ironman and was in the finals of the board relay.

Hamish backed it up by making the finals of the board relay, ironman and surf race at The Aussies on the Sunshine Coast.

Hamish is working hard to make a real go of a future in professional surf life saving. Picture: John Appleyard

“I was really happy with my Aussies performance, even though I was a bit unlucky in the ironman,” Hamish said.

“It’s good to see all the training I have put in is starting to pay off. I put a lot of work in, especially last season, and it’s definitely making my results a lot ­better compared to the last few years.”

Much of his success can be attributed to a strict training regimen that involves 4.30am starts for pre-dawn swimming sessions up to three times a week, followed by work at the beach almost every day.

Hamish said he loved the sport community.

“I’ve got great coaches who are always there to push me to go as hard as I can, and I’m always meeting new friends who make me want to get better,” he said.

“One of my goals is to keep working and eventually make a living out of the sport and competing at the highest level.”

To nominate go to juniorsportsstar.com.au