NEWLY elected MidCoast Council mayor Claire Pontin will head to the beach today (
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Friday) for her first official duty.
Cr Pontin will be at Cape Hawke Surf Club at Forster at 11.30am for the launch of the Oakberry Acai NSW Country Championships to be held at One Mile Beach at Forster later this month.
MidCoast Council general manager Adrian Panuccio will also attend the launch along with a host of surf life saving officials, including director of surf sports at Surf Life Saving NSW Don van Keimpema OAM; Surf Life Saving NSW chief operating officer Phil Ayres and Cape Hawke Surf Club president Gary Curtis.
This is the first time for many years the Country Championships have been held in the Lower North Coast Branch, which takes in five clubs from Pacific Palms to Crowdy Head.
Organisers say the event is open to clubs outside the Newcastle-to-Illawarra corridor and is second only to the NSW Surf Life Saving Championships in size, with an expected 1500 competitors, 200 officials and around 4000 spectators. It will also be the first time the championships have been held since 2020 because of the pandemic.