The NRMA Insurance Australian Surf Life Saving Championships has maintained its position as one of the lifesaving worldâ„¢s most popular events, with more than 7,500 Australian and 130 international competitors and taking part.

Speaking as the six days of competition wound up on the Gold Coast, SLSA CEO, Greg Nance, said the Australian Surf Life Saving Championships continue to improve in appeal and stature and must now be classed as one of the worldâ„¢s premier events.

The NRMA Insurance Australian Surf Life Saving Championships has maintained its position as one of the lifesaving world’s most popular events, with more than 7,500 Australian and 130 international competitors and taking part.

Speaking as the six days of competition wound up on the Gold Coast, SLSA CEO, Greg Nance, said the Australian Surf Life Saving Championships continue to improve in appeal and stature and must now be classed as one of the world’s premier events.

We have all enjoyed a terrific event over the past six days and our international competitors have had the opportunity to compete in true surf conditions, developing skills which will improve their lifesaving abilities,he said.

“SLSA is very pleased now to host the DHL International Surf Challenge here at Kurrawa, which will see teams from Australia, Great Britain, Japan, New Zealand and the USA fight it out over two days.

The DHL International Surf Challenge is a perfect training run for Rescue 2006 ” the ILS World Lifesaving Championships ” to be held in Geelong and Lorne in February next year.

The 134 international competitors at this year’s Australian Championships is more than double the number who competed last year, and more than 25 times the number who competed in 1998, demonstrating the growing popularity of the event.

International competitors included 93 from New Zealand, 18 from the UK, 11 from Japan, ten from the USA and one each from South Africa and France.

The championships also provided an opportunity to demonstrate event management on a large scale to other lifesaving nations, with the visit of an Indian delegation to Kurrawa.

The group, led by Rashtriya Life Saving Society founder, Rear Admiral Purushottam Dutt Sharma, were special guests at the championships, where they also took the opportunity to learn new lifesaving techniques.

As a foundation member of the International Lifesaving Federation (ILS), we have a responsibility to use Australian expertise and training techniques to save lives in other countries, particularly when the drowning rate in India is 1000 times that of Australia, Mr Nance said.

“Unlike other sporting events around the world, the Australian Surf Life Saving Championships has as its core rationale the desire to attract more members to the surf lifesaving movement, keep our members fit and let them develop skills that may be required in rescue situations, he concluded.