LAST weekend was a golden weekend for former Denham's Beach resident Ashlee Cheney as she won two events at the Australian Surf Life Saving Championships at Kurrawa Beach on the Gold Coast.
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Cheney finally broke through for the open women's beach sprint gold medal she has chased for a number of years.
Cheney, 22, who now lives at Bulli and competes for Mollymook, is trained by Darren Peters and is the daughter of Mal and Lesley Cheney of Denhams Beach.
Cheney last won individual gold at the Australian titles in 2000, claiming the under 18 Australian title at Kurrawa when she was coached by former Tuross Head resident Ray Fox.
That was the year she also won the world open women's beach sprint championship at Manly Beach against competitors from more than 50 countries.
She then went on to win the world open women's beach sprint relay with Malua Bay sisters Kellie, Courtney and Christie Gowen.
In between has been a gold drought for Cheney as she came fourth in the sprint event in 2001, then third in 2002.
Last year she looked set to break through, but after leading the final of the open sprint, Cheney stumbled 10m out from the finish and was swamped by Kristy Smith from North Cronulla and finished in second place.
Smith had Cheney's measure during 2003, while also defeating her at the NSW Championships at Shellharbour two weeks ago.
Smith entered the Australian titles as favourite, with other contenders including 2002 champion Rebecca Irwin of Bronte and former Narooma flyer Melissa Hoar, now with Queensland club Northcliff.
All eight finalists jumped out of the blocks evenly in the 90m event, but Cheney stepped up the pace at the 20 metre mark to forge ahead.
Looking extremely strong, she quickly powered down the track to finish two metres clear of Smith with Hoar taking third place.
Irwin stumbled and fell in the sand just three metres short of the line to miss second place.
Cheney was interviewed live by a Channel 7 camera crew and explained the disappointments from the previous years titles and the thrill of finally being crowned Australian Champion again.
Just 45 minutes after her exhilarating win, Cheney lined up in the open women's relay final with Melissa Howard, Armalie Davidson and Teegan Davies.
Superb running and flawless baton changes from all four girls resulted in a gold medal.
Melissa Howard earlier won gold in the open women's beach flags, underscoring the strength of the beach team at Mollymook as they won every gold medal available in the open women's section of the championships.
