LOCAL KNOWLEDGE HELPS DUO CLEAN UP MOOLOOLABA OCEAN SWIM

Mooloolabah Triathon Australia: March 10, 2018: Defending champion Haydn Cotter and local swimmer/triathlete Kelly-Ann Perkins used their local knowledge to handle the tricky and messy surf conditions to record emphatic victories in the Mooloolaba Ocean Swim.

Cotter, the 17 year old Brisbane high school student from Launceston Surf Club in north Brisbane, went ‘back to back’ making the most of the rugged conditions describing the 1000m M-shaped course as a “nice little sprint”. The grade 12 student from Nudgee College said his ultimate goal would be to go to the Olympics and swim the 10km and if that doesn’t work I’d like to do some surf lifesaving too.

“I do a lot of ocean swimming and surf lifesaving and I have won a couple of races down here and I was the winner of this event last year. It is a lot of commitment with school and swimming but it goes okay and the teachers are used to it and know what is happening. So it is really good.”

“I had a really good swim. It was a little bit messy out there and the water wasn’t that great but it was still a really good race. With the sweep I just ran down the beach a little bit and worked out how I was going to get to the can without getting swept across and miss it.”

“It was a nice short sprint, so it is good fun and in a race like this everyone has a chance to win it. But I went pretty well. It is good to do some short stuff to get some speed into your legs and stuff, so it works. I have a couple of open water swims planned and a couple of World Cup 10km races overseas coming up and the end of this year so it should be good,” Haydn said.

Local triathlete Kelly-Ann Perkins was the first of three Perkins across the line in the Ocean Swim, holding off Alexandra Headland sisters Sarah and Jamie Perkins to record her first win in the Mooloolaba Ocean Swim.

The 25 year old from Aroona had previously won the Mooloolaba Oceania Cup in 2015 before her triathlon career was put on hold for almost two and a half years with a sever leg injury. She said the win in the Ocean Swim was a massive confidence boost for her return to competitive triathlon later this year.

“I had four years training out of Mooloolaba SC a few years ago before I switched to triathlon. So I know this beach really well and grew up my whole life in the surf so the conditions suited me. It was really tricky conditions with the bank and the potholes and a bit of a current so it made it quite tough work and it was nice to get a wave at the end. I was in second and I missed the wave the first time coming through on the M shape and she got a bit of a gap on me but I got a nice wave through in the end and I got the win.”

“I had a leg fracture that failed to heal so I had to get a femoral nail put down my leg which is essentially a metal rod. I had to retrain my muscles to walk properly because it was quite weak after the surgery. It has been a long recovery but things are looking positive at the moment. This win is a good step in the right direction and gives me a lot of confidence. I am just trying to get my fitness back and I just used the race as a bit of a form finder to see where my swim is at, at the moment,” Kelly-Ann said.

Open Male

1          Open   Hayden COTTER        00:09:51

2          Open   Blair DAY                    00:10:21

3          Open   Andrew MEWING        00:10:36

Open Female

1          Open   Kelly-Ann PERKINS    00:11:01   

2          Open   Sarah PERKINS          00:11:22

3          Open   Jamie PERKINS          00:12:07

Mooloolaba Triathlon Festival is supported by the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland as part of the It’s Live! in Queensland events calendar. Queensland, just the place to experience Australia’s best live events.

Further information contact: Noel McMahon, IRONMAN Media Manager (Oceania) +61 455 091 476, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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