CABARITA junior Claudia Crawford finished her super season off strongly at the third and final round of Surf Life Saving’s Fastest Man On Sand at Mooloolaba on Saturday.

On a day dominated by athletes from Kurrawa and Alexandra Headland, Crawford, 15, placed third and eighth in sprint and flag competitions respectively against the cream of Australia’s junior beach-sprinting crop.

Out of hundreds of juniors competing, only seven were from NSW and Crawford said she was happy with her results in such elite company.

“It was a challenging day and it was a great learning curve for me,” she said.

“Most of those girls had placed really well at state competitions recently, so to compete against them and do really well was good.”

Cabarita SLSC secretary Belinda Pye said Cabarita SLSC’s results were great, with juniors Cahrizma McDonald-Cass and Lachlan Watt also featuring prominently.

“For these NSW kids to compete at such an elite carnival at such an elite level is an enormous effort,” she said.

The event caps a brilliant season for Crawford who was only exposed to beach sprinting and the world of Surf Lifesaving when her family relocated to Cabarita from the state’s central west in 2013.

Crawford has now compiled a long list of accolades including a sprint gold and a flag-racing silver at the NSW Surf Life Saving Country Championships and two wins in Queensland’s Fastest Man On Sand this season. Crawford was equally happy for close friend McDonald-Cass, 14, who placed second in sprints and ninth in the flags.

“I introduced her to the club a few years ago. I told her she’d be great on sand. We trained together and became really close,” Crawford said.

Crawford sprint trains three nights a week, does yoga on Wednesdays and weight sessions on Fridays after she and McDonald-Cass joined forces with ex-sprinter and Far North Coast Branch coach Gavin Marshall.

The two will now turn their attention to the Australian Surf Life Saving Championships (The Aussies) on the Sunshine Coast from April 16.

Crawford said while her Aussies goal was to make the finals and potentially a podium finish, she is also focussed on the bigger picture.