Kendrick Louis and Teenage girls Dominate Short Course Gold

Surf Life Saving Australia, October 18, 2013: Newport ironman Kendrick Louis gave his surf lifesaving season the perfect start with a commanding win in the Schick Hydro Coolangatta Gold short course race on the Gold Coast today.

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For 23-year-old Louis, his victory over two-time Australian Ironman champion Pierce Leonard of Southport by more than three minutes, showed he is ready for a big season.

Alexandra Headland teenager Bradley Doughan was well back in third.

While in the women’s race teenagers Alyssa Bull and Jess Suriano conquered their toughest test and herald their future Olympic ambitions ahead of Kurrawa’s Olivia Hall who was third.

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Seventeen-year-old Bull, an Australian junior kayak representative from Alexandra Headlands on the Sunshine Coast, continued her remarkable record adding an open title to her three Coolangatta Gold age group wins.

Suriano, a Year 11 Student at Sydney’s Kambala Girls School, flew home over the final stages with a stunning 7.1km run leg she hopes one day carry her onto to become an Olympic triathlete.

Louis decided to take on the 33.36km race, rather than tomorrow’s 41.8km long course event, after his winter training schedule was disrupted by other ironman commitments and travelling to Japan to compete for Australia in the International Surf Rescue Challenge.

“I’ve missed a big block of training and I’d have loved to have done the long course race but I’m just not ready for it,” he said.

“I was going to be up here helping out the young boys from Newport and I thought why not on the Saturday just have a crack.

“I came here today to see where I’m at, and to try to push myself really hard and try to get the win.”

Louis, who placed second in last season’s Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Ironman Series and is one of the favourites for this year’s title, and Leonard went into the race with the most experience and the best CV and they showed their class from the outset.

They pulled away from the field in the opening 14.6km ski leg from Coolangatta to Mermaid Beach, with Louis opening a 20 second gap on his rival by the time they reached the sand for the 2.5km run to Burleigh Heads.

From there Louis was always in command and relentlessly increased his advantage in the 2.5km swim to North Burleigh, the 6.1km board paddle from Burleigh to Currumbin and the final 7.1km run back to Coolangatta.

“Pierce is always a fierce competitor and loves to win and I knew it was going to be a tough day from the very start,” he said.

“So to come out on top of him, I’m quite happy with that.

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“You never know what he’s doing, if he’s training hard or not, but he always seems to turn up on the day and put up a tough fight.”

Patience was the key to Louis’s race, particularly in the often frantic early stages of the ski leg when adrenalin can easily overcome common sense and good tactics.

“At the start you’ve got to tell yourself to relax, it’s a 30km race,” he said.

“Everyone wants to go hard at the start but it slows down after the first 15 minutes and that’s when you want to be in a good position.

“The toughest part today was the board paddle from Burleigh to Currumbin into the headwind – it felt a lot more than 6km.

“I’m glad there was no camera filming me then because there were a few curses going on.”

Leonard, who dedicates much of his training time to developing the young talent at Southport Surf Life Saving Club, was happy with his first attempt at the distance.

“I’ve never done this sort of race but I wanted to commit to something and have a good go at it,” he said.

“I didn’t mind the shortened ski leg, that was quite good.

“It does give you a sniff to come back and do the whole proper training program for the full length race so you never know, I might be back for that next year.”

Kayak Star Alyssa Takes Control Of The Gold

In the women’s race it was Bull, the Australian junior kayak representative, who stole a march on the field, dominating the opening 15km of the 33.36km endurance race.

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She maintained her dominance through the 2.1km run, 2.5km swim and 6.1km board legs until 16-year-old Suriano, from North Bondi in NSW, displayed her running skills over the final seven kilometres into Coolangatta.

An ecstatic Bull said after the race she had been doing a lot of kayaking in the lead up to the Gold and managed her win despite suffering a dislocated knee cap in August.

“I went to junior worlds in Canada this year so a lot of my preparation in the off season was focused on sprint kayaks,” said Bull, a member of the Australian Under 18 K4 500 team that made the World Championship final.

“We went really well over there but I happened to dislocate my kneecap two nights before World Championships started.

“That meant when I came back I had some rehab to go through before getting back into the training slowly but I’m doing pretty good at the moment.

“Today I was pretty happy with how it went so hopefully no more worries in the future.”

“Getting back into swimming was a bit tough after not doing it in the off season. My ski leg had improved a lot and I’ve always been OK on the board so that was nice and easy.

Bull is in good hands with Shane Dalziel her board and ski coach, Janelle Pallister (nee Elford), the 1988 Olympian her swim coach.

Asked if she had the Olympics on your mind? She replied: “For kayaking yes, that’s a dream. (London Olympian and Ironwoman) Naomi Flood has been a great inspiration being able to do both sports and hopefully I can too.”

Suriano Runs to Silver In The Gold

Suriano said she was happy with her Coolangatta gold debut.

“I’ve never done the Coolangatta Gold so it was definitely an experience that I really enjoyed and I’ll definitely be doing it next year,” said Suriano.

“I love endurance, running is definitely one of my strong points. I’m looking at triathlons into the future but I’ve always loved surf and I’ll definitely stick with surf.

“I started at under 8s at North Bondi and former Ironman Scott Thompson is my coach and is absolutely amazing .He set a race plan out that was three pages long. He is great.

“He has focused so much on me and I definitely would not have been able to do this without him.”

Asked about her Olympic Triathlon ambitions she said: “I can run and I can swim. People have said you’re crazy not to do triathlon because of the Olympics. I love those tactical races, the mind games. The Olympics is a major event that I’d love to compete at so we’ll see where it goes.”

Another challenging for higher honours next year could be promising Surfers Paradise competitor Lindsey Lawry, who won the under-19 men’s race ahead of Louis’s Newport clubmate Max Brooks and Alex Wright (Mooloolaba).

Lawry performed well at the recent Nutri-Grain Series trials and stamped himself as a rising star with victory by one minute and 28 second from Brooks.

Will Tomorrow Be Ali’s Day

After today’s short course, the Schick Hydro Coolangatta Gold will be raced over the 41.8km long course tomorrow, with Mooloolaba’s Ali Day out to defend his title.

The 23-year-old was a late entry into the race after recovering from a stress fracture in his foot but will start favourite to make it two in a row.

Veterans Nathan Smith (Cronulla) and Hugh Dougherty (Tugun) loom as Day’s biggest threats with both looking for their first Coolangatta Gold title to cap their careers.

Smith dominated the Nutri-Grain Series trial last month, while Dougherty has specifically targeted tomorrow’s race before he retires from elite competition.

Others to watch will be Day’s Mooloolaba clubmates Matt Bevilacqua and Josh Minogue.

History will be made in the women’s race as they contest the long course for the first time.

Brodie Moir of North Burleigh outraced Northcliffe’s Courtney Hancock over the short course last year and they will take their rivalry over the longer distance tomorrow.

They head a star-studded 15-woman field that also includes classy Liz Pluimers (North Burleigh), who has returned to full-time training this season.

The leading trio’s biggest threat could come from 20-year-old Jordan Mercer, the daughter of 1992 men’s champion Darren Mercer.

Jordan recently won her second 52km Molokai to Oahu board paddle title and shows every sign of being ready to improve on her 7^th place finish in last year’s Coolangatta Gold.

	RESULTS Schick Hydro Coolangatta Gold 2013
	Saturday 19 October - Short Course
	Full Results
Categ Pos	FirstName	LastName	Race No	Time	Category	Gender	State
1	Kendrick	LOUIS	332	3:11:21	Open	Male	New South Wales
2	Pierce	LEONARD	327	3:14:33	Open	Male	Queensland
3	Bradley	DOUGHAN	330	3:37:54	Open	Male	Queensland
4	Michael	MORAN	329	3:54:05	Open	Male	New South Wales
5	Adam	JEFFREY	335	3:54:29	Open	Male	Queensland
6	James	HAIGH	324	4:00:04	Open	Male	Queensland
7	Steven	CAHILL	318	4:05:13	Open	Male	Queensland
8	Trent	HADLEY	303	4:08:02	Open	Male	Queensland
9	Dean	BLOND	328	4:09:36	Open	Male	Queensland
10	(raymond) Peter	INGLE	308	4:13:43	Open	Male	New South Wales
11	Grahame	MILLER	310	4:14:56	Open	Male	Queensland
12	Simon	STORRY	333	4:17:15	Open	Male	New South Wales
13	Steve	MCELROY	313	4:18:50	Open	Male	Queensland
14	Brett	GILLIES	311	4:21:43	Open	Male	Queensland
15	Shane	PETERSEN	312	4:22:58	Open	Male	Queensland
16	James	BELL	315	4:22:59	Open	Male	Queensland
17	Brent	WILKINSON	314	4:26:25	Open	Male	Queensland
18	Scott	GILLIES	331	4:31:39	Open	Male	Queensland
19	Campbell	HALL	323	4:32:17	Open	Male	Queensland
20	Ian	MAXTED	326	4:32:46	Open	Male	Queensland
21	Adam	COBLE	322	4:40:39

SLSA is delighted with the arrival of Schick Hydro - Schick's latest and most advanced shaving system for men and women - as its naming rights partner in 2013.

The Schick Hydro Coolangatta Gold is supported by the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland as part of a growing calendar of sporting, cultural, business and regional events across the state.

Issued on behalf of Surf Life Saving Australia...

Ian Hanson
Hanson Media Group

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