From wedding to the water ... Bevilacqua’s Tassie dash

A quintessential ironman race consists of a swim, ski and board leg though this weekend, Matt Bevilacqua will be adding a plane trip to his dash to the finish at the Shannon Eckstein Classic.

A QUINTESSENTIAL ironman race consists of a swim, ski and board leg though this weekend, Matt Bevilacqua will be adding a plane trip to his dash to the finish at the Shannon Eckstein Classic this weekend.

The 26-year-old is currently down in Tasmania and is set to fly back just in time for the ironman heats on Saturday morning.

“One of my best mates is getting married on the beautiful east coast of Tasmania so I didn’t want to miss it,” he said.

“We’ve got the wedding on Friday night then I’ll head off around 10pm and drive the two hours back to Hobart to get as much sleep as I can before catching the 6am flight out the next day.

“I’ll relax a bit more the night before but the wedding will be a bit quieter but a lot of athletes say you race at you’re best when you relaxed.”

Matt Bevilacqua wins his ironman heat at the Queensland Surf Life Saving Championships last weekend. Picture credit: Harvpix.

The Kurrawa product said that the fact he was prepared to change flights spoke volumes about the status of the event in the Australian surf life saving calendar.

“I’d already saved the date for the wedding but then Shannon revealed he was putting on his own event and I wasn’t going to miss it,” he said.

“I had to switch my flights around a bit but I’ve always admired Shannon even as a little grommet growing up in Tasmania so I wouldn’t miss it.

“It’s awesome to see some big sponsors coming on board and throwing their backing behind the event so it’ll be a spectacle.”

GET FULL DIGITAL ACCCESS FOR 50C A DAY

The 2018 Nutri-Grain Ironman series champion believes that the event will be perfect preparation ahead of the Aussies starting March 30.

“I’m at my best when I’ve been racing consistently and I always seem to come good at the back of the season so it will be great preparation,” he said.

“The Aussies will be massive and to have this event only 1km down the beach from where they’ll be held will be great preparation.”