Photos: Allan Coker Photography

Former Queenscliff paddler Jeremy Cotter beat home a record field in last Sunday’s 6th Annual ’Bridge to Beach’ event on Sydney Harbour.

In front of a huge crowd the former ironman champ led home a record five hundred other competitors to claim his second title in the prestigious event.

Cotter was lead out of the start under the Harbour Bridge by the pair of Matt Blundell and Brett Greenwood who were paddling a double ski. After rounding Bradleys Head Cotter made his move relegating the double pair to second.

Cotter was overjoyed after winning the event for second time making the trip down from the Gold Coast worthwhile. “I am really happy with this win as I have been working hard for the next Oceanpaddler World series event in New Zealand which is next week” said Cotter.

“The race went well I worked with the doubles for a while then managed to skip ahead in the rougher water as I could see their double was getting bogged down and the single I was on just skipped ahead’ he said.

The race provided and awesome spectacle for those on around the harbour as the huge field pushed out from beneath Sydney’s most famous icon celebrating its 80th birthday.

Race organizer Dean Gardiner was really happy with the turnout and quality of the paddlers on the line. “Its great to get so many paddlers on different craft competing in such a unique event” Said Gardiner. “We had a few small problems at the start with competitors pushing forward but with such a huge field when people decides to go there is not much you can do” he said.

Local standup paddleboard champ Sam Parker was demoted to second by youngster Jake Jensen in a time of 59:26.

“The stand up category is growing pretty quickly in these type of events” said Parker. “We are seeing more people just wanting to take part in any of these sorts of disciplines and its great to see such a diverse group of people now getting involved in ocean sports” he said.

“We were very lucky with the weather as a gap opened up on that day making for pretty nice conditions” said Gardiner.

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