Liz Goes The Distance On Another Golden Day For Ali

Surf Life Saving Australia, October 20, 2013: Liz Pluimers’ odyssey chasing victory in the Schick Hydro Coolangatta Gold reached an historic conclusion today when she won the first long course women’s title in the event’s history.

Ali-and-Liz-Trophy

Pluimers (North Burleigh) raced away to a commanding seven minutes and 28 seconds victory in the 41.8km torture test ahead of clubmate and last year’s winner Brodie Moir and Courtney Hancock (Northcliffe).

While it was the women in the spotlight having raced the 30-odd km short course since 2005 -the men’s race, saw defending champion Ali Day (Mooloolaba) make it two wins in a row in similarly emphatic fashion, beating Cronulla’s Nathan Smith by 6:30, with Josh Minogue (Mooloolaba) 24 seconds further back in third place.

Day put every ounce of energy into getting around the course in a sizzling 3:54:40 and had to sit through his interviews afterwards because he started feeling dizzy soon after he crossed the line.

Ali-Day-finish

His rivals undoubtedly were wishing he’d collapsed out on the course but instead he showed once again how well suited he is to the marathon format as he because only the third multiple winner of the Coolangatta Gold, after five-time champion Caine Eckstein and 1984 and 1985 winner Guy Leech.

In a day she’ll never forget, Pluimers was all smiles after crossing the line in a time of four hours 19 minutes and 39 seconds to put her name in the record books.

As well as becoming the first winner over the long course, with women racing the same course as the men this year after previously competing over a shorter distance, she turned around her fortunes in the event.

In 2009 Pluimers collapsed 20 metres from the finish line and was unable to complete the race, while she has also been passed by rivals on the run to the finish line in other years and seen victory slip from her grasp.

“I’ve been trying to find the top of the podium, and every year I’ve been second or third, oh gee, words cannot describe it,” she said.

Pluimers-finish

“I’m so happy. I’ve worked that much harder this year, I’ve really, really worked hard on my running. It’s always where I seem to lose it in the final run leg and it’s something I’ve worked really hard on.”

Fhis season Pluimers is competing with renewed enthusiasm after a six-month holiday in Europe with fiancé Stuart Snell (who finished 16th in today’s men’s race) helped refresh her outlook on the sport.

“Before I went away I was really mentally struggling, especially with getting up for swimming, it was a real chore to go training,” the 26-year-old said.

Hancock-board

“The break really helped me and while I was away I felt I really wanted to get back into this.

"I came back last season and did the Aussies but I wasn’t as fit as I’d have liked so I’ve worked hard to get back to this.”

Pluimers paid credit to the work of her coach at North Burleigh Dan Norton-Smith.

“He’s not just a physical coach, he’s a mental coach as well and that’s all you can ask for.”

While Moir was unhappy not to turn last year’s victory over the shorter course into a long-course triumph, she was thrilled for her clubmate and good friend.

“I couldn’t be happier for Liz, she deserves it so much,” said Moir.

Smith-board

Pluimers opened a handy lead in the opening 23km ski leg and extended it in the swim at Burleigh Heads but Moir said it was in the 6.1km board paddle from Burleigh to Currumbin that she lost any chance to close the gap.

“Courtney and I were close together behind Liz but we got into a bit of a ‘you go’, ‘no, you go’ situation and we probably let Liz get further away from us,” said Moir.

Fourth place in the women’s race went to Jordan Mercer (Noosa Heads) – daughter of 1992 Coolangatta Gold winner Darren Mercer, ahead of Tara Coleman (North Burleigh), Tenille Devine (North Burleigh), and Mooloolaba clubmates Teisha Jenkins and Kirsty Higgison.

Meanwhile it was another day for the popular Ali Day to remember.

He was a late entry into the race after overcoming a stress fracture in his foot that affected his preparation, but his timing was perfect on the day, leading at every transition and gradually moving away to an emphatic triumph.

“This one hurt and obviously I pulled up a little worse for wear because of the running that I haven’t done,” he said.

“I’m over the moon. To do it once is the best feeling, but the most pressure as an athlete was to back up again and show that last year wasn’t a fluke, that I didn’t get it on an easy year.

“That was a very hard race today. It’s an extraordinary feeling and something I’ll cherish for ever.”

The pace in the men’s race was on from the start, with runner-up Smith admitting he was caught out by the speed of some of his younger rivals in the ski leg from Coolangatta to Miami.

The speed spread out the field and Day took an early lead before Northcliffe’s Michael Booth pulled level as they left the skis behind at Miami and ran south to Burleigh Heads.

Hancock-Moir-ski

It was in the 3.5km swim that Day finally left Booth and his rivals behind, emerging from the water with a 3:50 lead over Smith and Minogue.

From that point, as hard as the board paddle into the wind and the final 7.1km run were, Day wasn’t going to be beaten.

“This week has probably been the least organised I’ve been for an ironman race. In one way I guess it worked in my favour because a week ago when I was training I wasn’t even thinking of doing this race,” he said.

“Then there have been some tough times during the last week, mainly because of self-doubt, but when the race did open up I made sure – as my coach Michael King said to me this morning, once the door of opportunity comes knocking, don’t just knock, kick it open.

“I guess I tried to do that to the best of my ability and it worked.”

Like Pluimers, Day banks $25,000 for taking first place but said the prizemoney was not his primary motivation.

“It’s great that Schick Hydro have come on board this year and put the money up and it’s great that the girls have done the longer course and they’re getting equal money to us,” Day said.

“But I don’t think the money outweighs the feeling of winning the Gold.

Booth-Day-ski

“You could give me a million dollars every year for the rest of my life but I’d choose to just win this race every day of the week. I was very grateful to win it once and I was very grateful I got to the start line today.”

Smith, 32, declared it was probably his last time on the Coolangatta Gold start line as he finished second for the third time. He has finished third two times as well.

“I’m the bridesmaid’s bridesmaid,” he joked after the finish.

“I came here to win but Ali Day was defending champion and he flies. He’s proved himself the last three years. He really is a champion.

“I’m slightly disappointed I didn’t win but on my performance I’m rapt to get second. If you told me three months ago I’d get second I would have taken it with both hands.

“They were flying on the ski leg and their speed really rattled me early, and from there I was playing catch-up.

Minogue placed third for the second year in a row and looks set to perform well in the upcoming Nutri-Grain Ironman Series.

Another Mooloolaba competitor, Hayden White, placed fourth, while West Australian David Graham put in a great race to finish fifth ahead of Booth and Jake Nicholson (Northcliffe).

Coolie-Crowd-2

SCHICK HYDRO COOLANGATTA GOLD 2013 RESULTS

Female Open – Long Course 41.8 KM in distance

1 Elizabeth Pluimers 4:19:39 2 Brodie Moir 4:27:07 3 Courtney Hancock 4:28:27 4 Jordan Mercer 4:31:49 5 Tara Coleman 4:35:04 6 Tenille Devine 4:38:32 7 Teisha Jenkins 4:41:46 8 Kirsty Higgison 4:44:10 9 Kirstie Hardstaff 4:48:22 10 Emma Armstrong 4:53:47 11 Dahlas Rogers 4:57:18 12 Tiarne Smith 5:00:45 13 Cher Allen 5:09:29 14 Zoe Elkerton 5:20:51 15 Bryony McDonnell 5:26:22

Male Open – Long Course 41.8 KM in distance

1 Ali Day 3:54:40 2 Nathan Smith 4:01:13 3 Josh Minogue 4:01:37 4 Hayden White 4:02:24 5 David Graham 4:02:28 6 Michael Booth 4:4:36 7 Jake Nicholson 4:08:00 8 Sam Fuller 4:08:47 9 Brendon Sarson 4:10:34 10 Samuel Bull 4:10:53 11 Mackenzie Hynard 4:11:43 12 Matt Bevilacqua 4:12:08 13 Mitchell Trim 4:12:12 14 Chris Moors 4:14:33 15 Hayden Allum 4:15:11 16 Stuart Snell 4:18:09 17 Ricky Smith 4:18:52 18 Hugh Dougherty 4:20:14 19 Tim Peach 4:20:14 20 Mark Simpson 4:22:16 21 Nathan Gray 4:24:49 22 Mitchell Fagerstrom 4:25:26 23 T Goulding 4:26:05 24 T O’Keeffe 4:26:25 25 Sam Shergold 4:28 :17 26 Jacob Helson 4:30:59 27 Michael White 4:31:41 28 Nick Marshall 4:34:03 29 Lucas Allan 4:35:01 30 Michael Hastie 4:37.07 31 Brady Casey 4: 40:32 32 Jason Evans 4:42:42 33 Jake Little 4:46:58 34 Neil Glover 4:55:58 35 Alex Lakeman 5:00:31 36 Matthew Laverty 5:04:07 37 Bodier Renaud 5:07:35 38 Anthony Rock 5:09:36 39 Luke Nolan 5:12:46 40 Ryan Rosenbaum 5:14:52 41 Mitchell Imeson 5:17:59

Male 30-39 Years – Long Course – 41.8KM in distance

1 Brent McKinnon 4:31:34 2 Tim Jennett 4:36:31 3 Boyd Conrick 4:36:46 4 Tristan Read 4:42:50 5 Luke O’Garey 4:47:27 6 Bradley Cummins 4:56:37 7 Tristan Howison 4:57.56 8 Christopher Wight 5.00.52 9 Mark Davies 5:01:08 10 Gavin Johns 5:03:13 11 Daniel Covill 5:06:10 12 Paul Peterson 5:10:14 13 Deryck Pickering 5:17:51 14 Chris Maker 5:18:21 Andrew 5:22:09 16 Peter Lewis 5:22:45 17 Gordon Jones 5:29:55 18 Josep Font Sadurni 5:30:49 19 David Unwin 5:30:59 20 Luke Horder 5:32:10 21 Christopher Freeman 5:35:32 22 David Williams 5:35:37 23 Stephen Alexander 5:53:55

Male 40-49 Years – Long Course – 41.8KM in distance

1 Ashley Massie 4:40:27 2 Glenn Clatworthy 4:42:51 3 Dean Hyland 4:43:29 4 Julian Norton-Smith 4:45:54 5 Carl Greenhalgh 4:49:35 6 Michael Manton 4:54:03 7 Scott Sewell 4:54:43 8 Paul Patrick 5:02:33 9 Roger Souter 5:05:55 10 Timothy Elsmore 5:06:32 11 Craig Bennett 5:06:48 12 Scott Lunney 5:07:13 13 Sam Hart 5:07:18 14 Chris Morgan 5:13:28 15 Rob Hueston 5:15:05 16 Sean Harvie 5:16:26 17 Troy Eady 5:21:24 18 Troy Cochrane 5:24:10 19 19 Roger Allwright 5:24:22 20 Nick Edmonds 5:34:44 21 Derek Taylor 5:39:31 22 Murray Lewis 5:43:10 23 Mark Spink 5:47:18 24 Stephen Hanlon 5:48:10 25 Nathan Rothlisberg 5:48:25 26 Paul Schloeffel 5:51:07 27 Andrew Holt 5:53:15 28 Ashley Phillips 29 John Lewis 5:57:18 30 Andrew Burgess 6:03:15 31 Richard Boyland 6:09:04

Open Male Relay – Long Course – 41.8KM in distance

1 The Z Chills 3:56:06 2 Redhead 3:58:41 3 Pair Of Fives 3:58:50 4 Manly Marlins 3:59:51 5 Alex Gold 4:01:44 6 Jetset Plumbing 4:04:52 7 Karl Stefanvictory 4:04:53 8 Newport Kinghorn 4:05:04 9 Mermaid Mermen 4:06:19 10 Maroochydore Mens 4:10:13 11 Fat Whales 4:10:22 12 Freshie Fighters 4:13:29 13 Lumitroy 4:16:14 14 Here For The Titles 4:18:13 15 Dee Why Red Caps 4:20:13 16 TH&C 4:24:42 17 Team Wilderness Gear 4:25:35 18 Newsa Boiz 4:30:50 19 Bucket List 4:31:18 20 Talle Trout's 4:32:00 21 3 Athletes & Mascot 4:34:52 22 Moses And Sons 4:35:52 23 North Bondi Brontos 4:38:06 24 Manly Minus 40 4:38:48 25 Avoca Old Guys 4:41:19 26 Noosamasters Gcsm 4:43:43 27 Alex Too 4:44:00 28 Skizz 4:44:43 29 Dee Why Swan 4:49:46 30 Cooly Kids 4:54:29 31 The Anzacs 4:58:01 32 Three And A Half Men 4:58:59 33 Broadie Battlers 5:00:09 34 Mad Mackerals 5:02:25 35 Club Sportsman 5:03:18 36 Dee Why Young Guns 5:09:14 37 Smart Alexxxx 5:13:24 38 Deewhy Old Guys 5:16:28 39 Manly Old & Bold One 5:18:48 40 Evans Head Surf Club 5:24:22 41 Mugs On A Mission 5:25:19 42 NC Blubbers 5:31:38 43 Salt A 5:36:38 44 JM Sup Co Natural And Real Athletes 5:42:43

Open Mixed Relay – Long Course – 41.8KM in distance

1 Three Men & A Lady 4:12:34 2 Delta 6 4:30:59 3 Coffs Force 4:34:03 4 Cool Runnings 4:36:27 5 Safe And Healthy People 4:38:36 6 The Palmy Army 4:41:19 7 Bondi A 4:52:41 8 Rose And The Thorns 4:55:58 9 Shortofbreath 4:58:17 10 Eppers Plus Doug 5:13:01 11 First Timers 5:35:00 12 Team Stingray 5:51:0

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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