Local lads do our Club proud at Coolangatta

The weekend of 15th/16th saw a number of members travel up to the Gold Coast to take on the Iconic Coolangatta Gold, an endurance Iron Man race based off the movie of the same name from 1984. Saturday was the short course race comprising of a 14.1km Ski paddle, 2.1km beach run, 2.5km ocean swim, 6.1km Board Paddle finishing with a 7.1km Beach run and Nic Schulz took the race on as an U19. He executed a great consistent race placing 13th out of the U19s and 17th overall for the day. He was the fastest South Australian to complete the course.

Sunday saw Willis Leirnert complete the Youth Challenge comprising a 500m beach run, 400m swim, 500m Board paddle and finishing with a 500m run. At just 12 years of age Wilis raced a great race against competitors from some of the big clubs from Queensland and was right in the middle of the field. He really enjoyed the experience of racing against some of the best competitors from across the country.

We also had our open team compete in the long course event on Sunday. The team of Laurence Fletcher, Sean McKenzie, Nick Penny and Leigh Pilkington completed the grueling event in a competitive position of 7th place, in conditions that many have said to have been the toughest they have raced in. Laurence completed the 23km ski leg while battling into a strong head wind for 17 of the 23km. Sean had to swim in rough conditions that made it hard to get into a good rhythm, and saw him start to get hypothermia by the end of the 3.5km swim. Nick Penny completed the 6.1km board paddle in a very competitive time while battling winds that were turning more cross shore as the event went on. To finish the race Leigh completed the run after just overcoming a knee injury weeks before the race, and wasn’t sure if it would cause him difficulties while racing.

Well done to all of our local representatives.  You’ve done Semaphore proud!

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