Surf Life Saving NSW has made the difficult decision to cancel the remainder of the 2022 NSW Surf Life Saving Championships, proudly supported by Your local club. This decision has been made in the interests of competitor safety and wellbeing. In considering the impact that the recent and continuing extreme rainfall has had on water quality and clarity, the impact that large swells have had on the beaches as well as a forecast for hazardous surf conditions for the remainder of this week, it was the strong recommendation from the Championship Safety Committee that it would not be safe to proceed with the event.

This has been an extremely challenging and difficult set of circumstances for the Championship Committee to contend with over the last few weeks. SLSNSW had been hopeful that the original postponement of the Open and Masters events would allow the Championships to continue and we are extremely disappointed that despite the best efforts of everyone involved in the planning and conduct of the Championships, it is clear that the weather will not improve sufficiently, nor is the beach environment safe from the past two weeks of extreme rainfall. Additionally, the involvement of many key volunteers in the flood rescue effort has put a significant strain on the ability to ensure the required level of water safety is in place for the event. The Championship Committee believes it appropriate to make the decision to cancel now, to ensure all participants can make changes to their various travel plans.

The Committee has decided that the First Aid Competition will proceed and will be held on the weekend of 19-20th March to allow results that determine entry into the Australian Championships to be recorded. As the event is entirely land-based it was considered safe and appropriate to continue and postponing this by a week will allow the impact of the current extreme weather event to subside and give competitors the chance to travel safely to the event.

SLSNSW will be liaising with Club Team Managers on questions regarding entry fees, IRB collection and entry into the Australian Championships for restricted events normally determined by results at the NSW Championships.

On behalf of Surf Life Saving NSW and the Championship Committee, we thank everyone for their understanding and support.