By Ron Lane
IT JUST does not seem possible, but every year the Noosa Tri, Noosa’s event of the year, just gets bigger and better.
One set of figures being banded around seem right on; 1300 volunteers, 6000 entrants in the Tri and a total of 13,000 entrants recorded for all events on the program. Well done to all concerned.
However, as always a major work load fell on the shoulders of the volunteers and again as always they did a magnificent job; our local volunteers working for the Tri and lifesavers from the Noosa, Sunshine, Coolum and Mudjimba clubs working the water safety.
Water safety co-ordinator Joe Cirillo of Noosa club said, “All clubs were well represented and during swim events all courses were well covered. The weather was kind to us and this made our job easier. Considering this was the biggest Tri ever things went extremely well.”
Leading the team from Sunshine Beach, club captain Scott Summers agreed.
“Everything was well organised and when you consider the numbers entered for the swims, it couldn’t have been better,” he said.
Once again many thanks to all volunteers; without you it just would not happen.
At the recent Coolangatta Gold marathon event, Bailey Williams of the Noosa club finished 3rd in the Undedr 19 division.
This effort was well applauded by his clubmates and rightly so for this event is not for the faint-hearted. Since then many people have asked what exactly is involved and what is the distance of the various disciplines?
The race consists of four disciplines; ski paddle, run, swim and board race. The ski course covers 15km followed by a 2.1km run, 2.5 swim, 6.1 board race and another 7.1km run.
On this, Bailey’s first attempt at the Gold, he finished in a time of 3hrs 17min, which saw him finish in third place.
Bailey, whose happy-go-lucky nature hides a deep determination said: “It was tough, at the end I really had nothing left. At the end of the ski leg I was in seventh place, entered the swim in eighth and finished the swim in second. It was the swim section that really lifted me, enabling me to finish the final leg in third place. At the final stage I knew the guys behind me were slowly running me down but I was detirmmed to hang on and that is what I did.
No more endurance for me now it’s the short course stuff – the Nutri Grain Series. I want to get the points required to take me into the Nutri Grain Series, and I will be happy.”
Two of Bailey’s clubmates – younger brother Cooper, 16, and Lana Rogers, 23, have also made their mark, this time in the Iron Man event.
In Round 1 of the Summer of Surf Series both did well and along with clubmates Rhys Burrows and Jordan Mercer, qualified for the iron man in Round 2 the of the Summer of Surf to be held this weekend.
One of the rewards they received for their performance was to be presented with new swim togs with their family name stencilled across the bottom.
“Bit embarrassing,” laughed young Cooper, “but it was great.”
Despite being what the clubbies term the Short Course events, to reach the top in the Iron Man is also extremely tough.
Lana, who qualified in the ladies for Round 2, summed it up beautifully when she said, “It is hard and very, very intense; you have to be very dedicated.”
So what again, I have been asked is the training routine that will enable them to achieve their goals?
The program covers six days a week with a two hour session per day, and covers all disciplines; swimming, board, ski and running. They swim every day covering 6km; Monday ski paddle 1.5 hours solid, Tuesday/Thursday 1.5 hours board racing, Wednesday/Saturday full iron person racing, all disciplines (board, swim ski, run.)
After training Cooper works part time cooking at Pizza Capers in Peregian Springs and Lana works as a learn to swim instructor at the Good Shepherd College. It is easy to understand why the chosen few who reach the top become Legends of the Surf.
