Seddon Shield: 5-6 Sep 2026

​This season Coogee SLSC welcomed its “Partners in Sport” Coogee Board Riders Club (CBRC) to compete in the Annual Seddon Shield surfing competition. This strengthened numbers & ensured high performance levels across all divisions.

Coogee surfers are very used to adversity when it comes to wind, weather, waves & whales! For this comp, it was a Total Fire ban declared in the Royal National Park, which saw 32 surfers (& supporters) undergo a long & sweaty trek from Garie to Burning Palms Beach. On arrival, we were rewarded with perfect surf in the 2-3ft range all day with beautiful weather & favourable offshore winds. So stoked.

The first final of the day saw the combined Female & Masters battle it out. Michelle Donoghue, as usual, impressed the judges to take out the win with daughter Frankie 2nd & Charlotte Cantarella 3rd. Masters was a head-to-head battle with Steve Callaghan surfing into 1st place & Todd Mison 2nd.

The Under 19 groms battled it out for their name on the Perpetual Seddon Shield. In a classy final, we saw our multiple Aussie Champion Jimmy “Nimmy” Azar shredding his way to immortality & a deserved winner. Up & coming junior surfers Freddie Baldow & Jasper Wilkie surfed great for 2nd & 3rd placings.

The final event was the Open Male final - packed with talent. After 20 minutes of radical manoeuvres, spray flying & 360’s landed, we saw Finn Wilkie declared an agonisingly close winner from legend Monty Tait & “Coogee Joe” Mison 3rd. Other worthy finalists were Khava Black &  Clay Cantarella, just missing out on trophies & Kel Gollan, Joe Beale & Ben Daniels also surfing unreal. All other surf clubs would be jealous of our depth of talent.

The amazing day finished with the presentation & BBQ at Burning Palms SLSC with many surfers celebrating & staying overnight. Everyone enjoyed the adventure & can’t wait for next year.

Special thanks must go to;
* generous supporters Jeanette Sayle & the Jeffery Leonard Sayle Foundation & David “Luna” Park for providing all prize vouchers
* Coogee SLSC for supporting the sumptuous BBQ & trophy update.
* Burning Palms Life Member Gary Daly for his hospitality & hosting
* hard working CBRC President Clay Cantarella &
* Greg Smart for his always legendary photography.