Alicia Marriott has become the first West Australian competitor to win the Coolangatta Gold, held in Queensland on Sunday.
Although not rated as a favourite by the east coast media, Alicia established a position in the leading pack in the opening 15km ski leg. This was followed by a 4.5km board paddle, where Alicia and Northcliffe's Elizabeth Pluimers took the lead over a pack that had thinned to just five.
The 2.5km swim proved to be the race turning point. Alicia took the lead, opening a lead of nearly 30 seconds on Pluimers, and more importantly nearly three minutes on two-times champion and race favourite Hayley Bateup.
With just a 7.5km run to go, Alicia only needed to stay focused to take out the race. And that she did, extending her lead over Pluimers by nearly another 30 seconds, and although Bateup made up a minute and 45 seconds it wasn't enough to improve on her third place position.
Several other City competitors also contested the event this year. James Cohen finished fifth in the Under 19 division ten minutes behind the winner (and six second faster than Alicia!). Ben Hewitt won his division in the Masters (30-39 years), with Mark Stewart second.
Age may have finally caught up with veteran Greg Mickle who failed to finish the event after falling ill, but wife Jenny made it all the way.
Full race results can be seen at the SLSA wesbsite.
Behind The Scenes
For those who did not have the pleasure of attending the event here is some insight as to the effort and logistics that went into making sure all our competitors had their best shot at achieving in the race. The men's race begins with a ski paddle from Surfers Paradise to Coolangatta after which they swim run board and run their way back to Surfers. The Women and Under 19's ski paddles a shorter course before running, boarding, running, swimming and running back to surfers.
Coach Rick Turner and team left no stone unturned taking the competitors over the course the day before allowing the athletes to make crucial decisions about tactics that proved very significant the next day. On the day of he race the Team had enough handlers to have people and sometimes more than one to be at every change over, giving drinks, food, goggles etc as well as collecting boards and skis. The result of this was they all saw nothing of the race apart from their 30 seconds of contact with the athletes as they went past.
The helpers are to be congratulated being coordinated by Rick Turner and Murray Hughes they put in a flawless performance with everything being exactly where it should have been during the race and all our competitors getting the maximum opportunity to do their best.
Congratulations to all the athletes and the Team Turner helpers you once again put WA on the map with a great all round performance.
