Surf and swim stars to collide chasing surf race gold

 Surf Life Saving Australia, April 14, 2015: THE most open surf race in recent history will highlight the centenary Australian Surf Life Saving Championships at North Kirra this week. The surf race was one of just two events at the first Australian championships in 1915 and 100 years on it promises to be a thrilling spectacle.

Among a stellar list of entrants, the race will feature the greatest surf swimmer in the sport’s history, two-time Olympian Ky Hurst (Kurrawa), and the man who this week could become surf lifesaving’s most successful ironman, Shannon Eckstein (Northcliffe).

They are set to be challenged by the likes of Australian Swim Team members Jordan Harrison (Northcliffe) and Hurst’s London Olympic team mate OTom Fraser-Holmes (Manly), and top open water swimmers George O’Brien (Kurrawa) and Sam Sheppard (Northcliffe).

All will be chasing the gold medal in Saturday afternoon’s final when the likely flat conditions will make it a flat-out dash from the start.

In the 100 years of The Aussies, Hurst has won 10 per cent of the surf race gold medals and no one knows more about what it will take to win the title.

“Having these conditions really opens the field up, and we’ve got a whole new group of guys coming through,” the Kurrawa champion said.

“Jordan Harrison is dangerous, he’s a weapon, and Tommy Fraser-Holmes has incredible experience even though he’s been swimming in the pool for several years.

“Then there are guys like George O’Brien, Sam Sheppard, Shannon, and then there are a bunch of other guys who are quite quick and all they have to do is set themselves up for the first can and be in the right position.”

North Kirra has delivered thrilling finishes to recent surf race finals, with Hurst edging out Sheppard by just a centimetre in 2012 and Chris Allum by not much more a year later.

Eckstein, winner of six open ironman titles, has not won the surf race despite being runner-up three times, including last year in Perth when he was outrun to the finish by Hurst.

He thinks this year’s carnival program may give him his best chance of taking the elusive gold medal.

“Saturday is quite light on for me with just the semi and the final of the surf race so I’ll definitely be doing it,” Eckstein said.

“If I can win it that would be great but it’s going to be a very hot race.”

While the surf conditions could favour the pool swimmers, Eckstein says there are aspects of the course that will help those with more experience in the surf.

“The finals on Saturday and Sunday are going to be at low tide and there will be tricky potholes to negotiate when you have to get up and run,” he said.

“That might play into the favour of the ironmen.

“Everyone’s going to be watching because no-one really know what’s going to happen.”

The falling tide could also play a critical role in deciding if Eckstein will win his seventh open ironman title and move him ahead of surf legend Trevor Hendy on the all-time list.

The 31-year-old admits these days he is happier in the water than running on the sand but is likely to face long running and wading sections if he makes it safely through to Sunday afternoon’s final.

The most recent Aussies open ironman final at North Kirra produced the most thrilling finish in the event’s history when Mooloolaba’s Cam Cole emerged from the pack to be a surprise winner.

Cole and his clubmates from the Sunshine Coast including Queensland ironman champion Matt Bevilacqua and Nutri-Grain series winner Ali Day will be among the main challengers to Eckstein, as will the champion’s younger brother Caine (Northcliffe), who finished second in last year’s final.

Defending champion Liz Pluimers (North Burleigh) will be favourite to take the 2015 title and achieve an historic treble by winning the sport’s three biggest titles in the same season – Coolangatta Gold, Nutri-Gran series and Australian ironwoman.

But she will have to fight off a huge pack of challengers including 2012 champion Rebecca Creedy (Northcliffe), 2013 winner Courtney Hancock (Northcliffe), who is battling a foot injury, and rising star Georgia Miller (Newport).

Miller won the open and under-19 ironwoman titles at the NSW championships among an astonishing haul of 11 gold medals.

“Winning the open and under-19 ironwoman at NSW was a massive highlight, and I’ll be competing in the under-19 and open events here to give it a good crack,” she said.

The Open championships start tomorrow and run through to Sunday.

There are definitely moments when I am proud and at the same time knowing I’ve been around for so long is quite frightening as well.

It’s been an awesome career but I wouldn’t change anything. To be able to represent Australia in surf lifesaving and then right through to an Olympic games, surf lifesaving has given me so much.

There are definitely no plans in the woodwork as far as retirement goes. I’ve got a job to do and we’ve got four or five days of racing ahead of us and I have everything crossed and hoping there’s a bump.

SURF SPORTS MEDIA ENQUIRIES

For further information surf sports competition and event, please contact:

Ian Hanson
Hanson Media Group
M: 0407 385 160
E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

or

Kim Hamilton
Hanson Media Group
M: 0438 443 406
E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Issued on behalf of Surf Life Saving Australia by

Ian Hanson| Media Manager Triathlon Australia Managing Director
Hanson Media Group | P O Box 299 | West Burleigh Qld 4219
Phone: +61 7 5522 5556 | Mobile 0407 385 160 | Fax: +61 7 5522 5557 
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | www.hansonsportsmedia.com