An ‘iron maiden’ in surf lifesaving?

Press, 16 June 1982, Page 30

An ‘iron maiden’ in surf lifesaving?

Mr Ivan Kilroy is leaving the controlling of surf lifesaving carnivals,. but he is not winding down his activities without offering some fresh thoughts. Mainly at the instigation of Mr Kilroy, the competitions’ committee of the Canterbury Surf Lifesaving Association has proposed some gently-radical changes to the carnival structure of events to clubs and the, association. The event which will undoubtedly raise the most interest is the “iron maiden,” the female answer to the much-revered iron man contest, that combination of shimming, surf ski and malibu board skills which marks the outstanding all-rounder of the sport. Mr Kilroy took particular note of the female involvement in the test of stamina when he accompanied the Canterbury team to Australia in March. Women have only recently been permitted to compete in Australia, and their events are limited.

Hence, they compete with males in the iron man contest, “and when you get one capable of virtually, lapping a tine young competitor like Dene Waru, they have to be watched,” said Mr Kilroy. He speculated that it would not be very long before the New Zealand-Aus-tralia interchange of visits would include women. “So we must get going smartly on events such as this, because the Aussies are bound to press for it,” he said. In another move on women’s events, the competitions committee is proposing that board and ski events be championship points-scoring races — ..the iron maiden should be non-championship for its qualifying period — and the rescue ski race should be phased out. The other two areas in which changes are being suggested are beach sprints and surf races.

"With the beach . sprint championships being decided at the first carnival, we must

look to give our top blokes — and girls — .some more Competition. • Invitation bqach sprints will help fill that gap and give our specialists more and tougher competition." The suggested grading of surf races will perhaps be the most controversial of the proposals. With them often attracting fields of 70 or more, the surf races are big marshalling jobs. Cutting them down to as many as three grades, the A grade starting first, the others following even before . the completion of A grade, would hardly use any more time, Mr Kilroy maintained. “If they were all made championship events, too, there would be the incentive for swimmers competing against others of similar ability,” said Mr Kilroy. The nuts and bolts of grading, promotion and relegation could be discussed when a reaction from clubs was received.

RAY CAIRNS