Dana Cahill became the first woman to win a medal for Currumbin in 1994

She’s the daughter of Currumbin legend Mick Cahill and the niece of club great Dick, but in 1994, Dana wrote her own name into the history books as the first woman to win an Aussies gold medal for the Vikings.

SHE’S the daughter of Currumbin legend Mick Cahill and the nephew of Dick, but in 1994, Dana wrote her own name into the history books as the first woman to win an Aussies medal for the Vikings.

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The Cahill family was renowned for their board paddling and work in the water but in 1994, Dana and her cousin Steven were called into to replace a handful of retiring Vikings in their elite patrol competitions team.

Currumbin surf lifesaver Dana Cahill in 1996 after winning several patrol competition Aussies medals.

At that stage, the Vikings had gone back to back at the Australian titles but females were few and far between in the teams of six.

The Patrol Competition seeks to reward the strongest patrol club, testing competitors in patrol theory, practical beach patrol scenarios, resuscitation simulations and physical tests like board rescues and run swim run.

The mighty Vikings managed to qualify via interbranch before winning at the Queensland state titles and booking their place at the Aussies.

Staged at Swansea in New South Wales, Cahill was one of only two females among the six teams.

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“We had a big rivalry with Portsea and we said at the time, all we want to do is nail them in the physical events,” Cahill said.

“The boys said they’re going to look at you and think oh well she’s a girl, we’ve got them covered but I actually loved the physical events.

“I remember in the water events, a couple of guys started yelling out at me during the run swim run to make it seem like I had someone from Portsea right behind me.

“We were having a laugh and enjoying it afterwards and then the officials started reading out the places from 6th upwards and we got to the top three and we still hadn’t been called.”

Currumbin was awarded gold, instantly crowning Cahill as the first female to win a medal for the club at a time where women and men were only just starting to race against their own gender.

Currumbin surf lifesaver Dana Cahill in 1996 after winning several patrol competition Aussies medals.

Cahill wasn’t in her own company for long, teammate and friend Hayley Aitken becoming Currumbin’s second female medallist with a win in the Under-18 board.

“I had grown up with my dad and uncle winning the first-ever board relay so we were pretty keen to win an Australian gold medal,” Cahill said.

“It’s amazing to see how far it has come for girls and I’m keen to see it evolve even further.

“From age 13 to probably 15, we had to race boys in teams or you were in a team with boys and I remember being in the first all-female team to win the surf teams event.”

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Cahill served a further two years in the open patrol team, contributing to a further two Aussies victories before she passed the baton on to her sister Hayley and cousin Ben – the two laying the foundation for the team to remain undefeated until 2001.