Nutri-Grain Ironman and Ironwoman Series 2022: Tsunami postpones Round 3
Organisers have been forced to postpone Round 3 of the Nutri-Grain Ironman and Ironwoman Series on advice from the Bureau of Meteorology and NSW State Emergency Services.
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THE third round of the Nutri-Grain Ironman and Ironwoman Series from North Bondi has been postponed due to an ongoing tsunami alert.
Nutri-Grain Iron Series competition committee chairman Stephen Leahy told News Corp that after consultation with the Bureau of Meteorology and the NSW State Emergency Service the risk posed to athletes was too great to go ahead.
“It is very disappointing that we haven’t been able to conduct today’s round,” Leahy said.
“We had all our contingencies in place to ensure the athletes were protected from Covid – unfortunately we weren’t anticipating a tsunami alert.
“The advice from both organisations was beaches were to remain closed indefinitely.
“When it became obvious beaches were unable to be opened until late this afternoon it became our only option (to postpone).”
Leahy said there was no decision yet on whether the third round would go ahead at a later date but it would come after careful consultation with athletes.
“We have to decide what that looks like,” he said.
“Obviously we have three rounds in a couple of weeks’ time on the Gold Coast. Whether or not there’s an opportunity to extend competition to include this round remains to be seen.
“We share the disappointment of the athletes, but remembering we’re a public safety organisation as our core business, this was the best decision to make.”
After two completely rounds, reigning series champion Ali Day sits on top of the Ironman standings with a perfect 40-from-40 points.
It’s a two-way tie at the top of the Ironwoman leaderboard with Northcliffe’s Harriet Brown and two-time reigning champion Lana Rogers both on 39 points.
The Nutri-Grain Ironman and Ironwoman Series heads to Kurrawa for rounds 4-6 beginning February 4.
EARLIER:
THE threat of a tsunami has put Round 3 of the Nutri-Grain Series in doubt as officials discuss whether to push ahead with the event at North Bondi.
A tsunami alert remained in place for most of the East Coast, stretching from the Gold Coast down through NSW, overnight after a volcano erupted under the sea near Tonga.
Emergency services advised people to stay out of the water but individual councils have the final say on whether beaches are open to the public.
Reigning Ironman champion and Surfers Paradise competitor Ali Day, who won the opening two rounds, said he was hopeful Round 3 would go ahead.
“I’d love to get Round 3 out of the way. It would be awesome to race but it is out of our hands at the moment,” Day told Channel 7.
“They are saying it is 50-50 at the moment. I honestly think we will go ahead. Hopefully we can get the all clear. I’m just worried about no one being in danger overseas.
The opening three rounds of the Nutri-Grain Series were scheduled for North Bondi this weekend, with Rounds 1 and 2 completed across Friday and Saturday.
If Round 3 is cancelled, it is unknown when and where it will be held at this stage.
Rounds 4, 5 and 6 are due to be held at Kurrawa Beach from February 4-6, giving organisers the opportunity to add another day of racing to the second event on the Gold Coast.
EARLIER:
IN A battle of Master versus Apprentice it was reigning champion Ali Day whose experience got the best his 20-year-old Surfers Paradise protege Finn Askew in the opening round of the Nutri-Grain Ironman Series on Friday.
Day, 31, made it seven round wins in a row – a feat never before achieved in the sport – but he was made to work harder than the previous six in serious swell at North Bondi.
Mother Nature threw everything at the superstar ironman, who was battered from pillar to post in conditions far different to those in which he won the previous weekend in the Summer of Surf at the same beach.
And yet the three-time champion proved he’s far from a flat-track flyer by beating out last year’s runner-up Jy Timperley and 2020 winner Kendrick Louis to the line and begin his title defence in perfect fashion.
Northcliffe’s 2017/18 champion Matt Bevilacqua came in fourth ahead of Askew, who stayed with Day for large sections of the race before being caught out on the final turn home to the beach.
In just his second series start, Askew’s fifth was his best-ever race finish. But with the potential for a podium on the line it was mixed emotions for the rising star.
“Going into that last leg I got hit by a little wave on the way out and I got in my head a little bit. Then I missed another wave and dropped a couple of places in the last 100 metres to the beach,” Askew recounted to News Corp.
“I thought I did pretty well throughout the whole Iron to keep my head in the race (but) going into that last leg I kept thinking that I had a podium on the line and when you think about that, that’s when you make mistakes.
“I guess it does come down to a bit of inexperience at that level.”
One of Askew’s key reasons for moving to Surfers Paradise in 2019 was the chance to train alongside Ali Day. He said it was a surreal moment to be battling it out with his friend and idol at the head of the field.
“It was awesome,” he said.
“I’ve learned a lot since last year and to be able to race up the front with someone I look up to was amazing. It did end up feeling a bit like training.
“It was just me and him. I didn’t have anyone else in my mind at that point. It was pretty special.”
Day hailed his training partner for running him close the whole race.
“Finny was really pushing me there the whole time,” he said.
“We have something special in the water (at Surfers Paradise) at the moment and I’m really lucky to have someone like Finn there pushing me all the way.”
Northcliffe star survives ski massacre to win Ironwoman Round 1
HARRIET Brown has made it back-to-back wins at North Bondi and positioned herself as the early Nutri-Grain Ironwoman Series leader as reigning champion Lana Rogers’ costly error came back to haunt her.
A decade on from finishing last in her series ironwoman debut at the same beach, Brown showed incredible mastery of the surf to take out the opening round ahead of Rogers and Northcliffe clubmate Hannah Sculley in third.
The win comes a week after she topped the podium in the Summer of Surf event at the same beach in conditions very different to those that greeted athletes on Friday.
“We were expecting it to be flat like it was last weekend so when I rocked up to the beach (to see the bigger surf) I got really excited,” Brown told News Corp.
Three-time series champion Courtney Hancock led the field out of the opening swim leg of the Endurosurf format, but by the time the competitors returned to the beach it was the familiar face of Rogers setting the pace.
That changed in the ski leg when Rogers, the two-time reigning champion, picked the wrong can and travelled far off course, putting her well behind and opening the door for Brown.
The 30-year-old Victorian took the lead and rode a massive wave into the beach as the massacre unfolded behind her.
Even Tokyo sprint canoe Olympian Aly Bull was taken out as the chasing pack was pushed together by the swell.
From her place at the head of the pack, Brown said she saw the oncoming wave and had to make a quick decision that ultimately opened the door for her win.
“I just remember looking behind and seeing a massive wave and I thought to myself that I could hold back and play it safe, but I told myself before the race I would catch anything that came and I just went for it to pull ahead and it really paid off,” Brown said.
It was just desserts for Brown after last year’s injury heartbreak that ruled her out of the final two rounds and ended her push for the podium.
“I was devastated last year when I injured myself,” she said.
“It’s such an arduous process. Three months of surgeries. It’s been a long road back and to be honest there were some tough times there when I didn’t think I would get the strength back in my legs.
“I was pretty slow to begin with but I guess it’s a lesson for everyone who might be going through recovery to just take it one step at a time.”
Reigning champion Rogers managed to overcome her early error to finish second behind Brown, with Sculley beating out Newport’s Lizze Welborn in a sprint for the podium.
Former series champion Brielle Cooper beat out Danielle McKenzie and Courtney Hancock in the race for fifth through seventh.
Nutri-Grain Ironman and Ironwoman Series 2022: Everything you need to know
THE NUTRI-GRAIN Ironman and Ironwoman Series returns to the world famous Bondi Beach for the first time in 12 years on Friday.
Forty of Australia’s top surf sports competitors will put it all on the line for the title of best and fittest iron athlete in the land.
Read on for everything you need to know ahead of Friday’s opening round from North Bondi and hear from some of the top contenders.
THE FORMAT
Round 1 (Friday) Endurosurf: A 35 to 40-minute Iron race over an M-Shaped or Traditional Course. Each of the disciplines of swim, board, ski will be completed twice or three times (dependant on course selection) with competitors taking on the surf break multiple times in the order of: swim, board, ski.
Round 2 (Saturday) WaveCross: A modern format of 6-8 minute races designed to create fast paced, tight finish racing. Initial seeding comes from a 12-minute traditional iron to determine groupings for the quarter-finals. Places 17-20 from the seeding race are eliminated.
Top two from the QF progress to the SF. Top two from the SF progress to the final, leaving four athletes to battle it out for the podium.
Round 3 (Sunday) Survival: Three separate, 12-minute long Iron races starting with 20 competitors, with the last six finishers in each race eliminated, until eight are left in the final race. There is a three-minute countdown between each race.
Race 1: Swim, Board, Ski.
Race 2: Board, Ski, Swim.
Race 3: Ski, Swim, Board
THE COMPETITORS
Ironman: Ali Day, Jy Timperley, Joe Collins, Matt Bevilacqua, Cory Taylor, Jackson Borg, Matt Poole, Zach Morris, Dan Collins, Jackson Maynard, Kye Taylor, Finn Askew, TJ Hendy, Kendrick Louis, Ben Carberry, Adam Palmer, Wes Gould, Hayden Cotter, Corey Fletcher, Max Beattie
Ironwoman: Lana Rogers, Lizze Welborn, Danielle McKenzie, Tiarnee Massie, Emma Woods, Jemma Smith, Tayla Halliday, Naomi Scott, Harriet Brown, Lucy Derbyshire, Maddie Spencer, Courtney Hancock, Brielle Cooper, Britney Pierce, Lily Finati, Hannah Sculley, Lily O’Sullivan, Olivia Corrin, Aly Bull, Bella Williams (replaces Georgia Miller for Rnd 1-3)
THE CONTENDERS
IRONMAN
Ali Day (Surfers Paradise)
The reigning champion will be red hot favourite to go back-to-back after a stunning start to the summer which included a record seventh Coolangatta Gold crown and recent Summer of Surf Open Ironman win at North Bondi. The flat conditions at Bondi will suit the slender super swimmer, whose fitness is unmatched in the sport.
Jy Timperley (Burleigh Heads Mowbray Park)
In any other year Timperley’s six-straight podium placings would probably have been enough to win him the series title. It just so happened he was up against Ali Day. But if Timperley can reprise the kind of form that he showed last year in the flat, there’s no reasons why he can’t be up there again challenging the champion for his crown.
Joe Collins (Northcliffe)
Collins burst onto the scene last year to finish third overall in his series debut. The 19 year old has continued to build a solid resume since and established himself as the leading light in generation next’s quest to overthrow the old guard. His slight frame and elite fitness is well suited to the flat conditions at Bondi and having lived and trained on the Gold Coast for three years, the conditions at Kurrawa for rounds four through six won’t be beyond him either.
Matt Bevilacqua (Northcliffe)
The 2017-18 champion had a down 2021 series by his standards yet still finished in equal fourth and a mere three points back from clubmate Joe Collins in third. With his Bondi lifesaver brother Joel handling this weekend, Bevy has the inside knowledge to get an edge on the opposition.
Kendrick Louis (Manly)
We saw what Ali Day was able to achieve on his comeback last season – what can the 2020 champion produce on his return to the series after missing last year through injury? Louis was a favourite to go back-to-back last year before he was forced to withdraw. He’s had to fight through qualifying and will don the pink rashie this year, but winners know how to win and that’s Louis.
IRONWOMAN
Lana Rogers (Alexandra Headlands)
Only Georgia Miller could stop Lana Rogers from following in Ali Day’s footsteps and sweeping the 2021 series. Rogers romped to a 10-point victory last year with four wins and two runner-ups to her name. Fatigue ruled her out of the Coolangatta Gold as a favourite last November but she’s back – and without Miller there for at least the first three rounds, who can stop Rogers from making it three on the trot?
Lizzie Welborn (Newport)
Welborn looks the form competitor heading into the opening weekend of the series. Last year’s third-place finisher currently leads the MVP standings in the Summer of Surf and made the podium again at North Bondi last weekend. Welborn is trending upwards and at a beach she knows so well has every chance of finishing the weekend at the top of the points standings.
Harriet Brown (Northcliffe)
Brown was battling neck and neck with Welborn and Georgia Miller for the minor podium placings when she was forced to retire from the series with two rounds to race due to a foot injury. The 2017 champion knows what it takes to win at this level and remains one of the main threats to Rogers’ three-peat hopes, particularly after winning the Open Ironwoman at the Summer of Surf event last weekend.
Danielle McKenzie (Northcliffe)
The ‘D-Mack’ had her best-ever round (second) and overall (fourth) finish to a series last year and she hasn’t put a foot wrong since. A second in the Coolangatta Gold and podium in the Summer of Surf event last weekend are testament to the Kiwi’s consistency. She’s still chasing that elusive round win after seven years in the series. If she can break that duck this year she’s capable of going all the way.
Courtney Hancock (Surfers Paradise)
It was an admittedly below-par 2021 series for the three-time champion, who finished 11th and was forced to win her way back in through qualifying last month. A stirring victory in the Coolangatta Gold proved to Hancock – and the world – that she’s far from finished.
Hunter becomes the Hunted: Day is eyes ahead in title defence
IT’S fair to say a lot has changed for Ali Day in preparation for this year’s Nutri-Grain Ironman Series – and not just the colour of his rashie.
Donning the pink of a qualifier the 31 year old had already ticked his most important box by simply meeting the starter’s gun for round one at Kingscliff last year.
What followed was abnormal, at least for anyone not named Ali Day.
The Surfers Paradise ironman produced the first-ever series cleansweep, winning all six rounds and drawing praise from all corners of the sport, including its greatest proponent, Shannon Eckstein, who hailed Day’s injury comeback as one of the greatest ever.
Now almost 12 months removed Day’s world is moving at an entirely different pace as he prepares for Friday’s opening round at North Bondi.
For starters he’ll be wearing the yellow rashie of a reigning champion, his third such time defending an Ironman Series title. With that comes a massive target on his back.
The champ has returned and his rivals know all about it.
“It changes a little bit, for sure,” Day conceded.
“Last year I was just happy to be back and there was no pressure on me. I was just stoked to get my spot back and race again.
“Now there’s a target on my back. I won six from six last year and I’ll be wearing a different colour rash shirt this time around.
“At the end of the day I just have to go out there and focus on myself, it’s that simple.
“My goal this year is just be consistent. That’s going to be really hard, I’m nervous about it already, but also at the same time I’m really excited.”
Day’s series preparation got off to the perfect start last weekend when he took out the Summer of Surf Open Ironman at North Bondi ahead of series rivals Matt Poole and TJ Hendy.
“Any time you race, you can’t replicate that in training,” Day said.
“Even just warming up and down and feeling those nerves is good.
“There were areas of (Saturday’s) race that I was happy with and areas I wasn’t happy with.
“It was a great chance to iron those out and make sure I’m aware of them going into the week. Plus it was really cool to race and really special to get the win there.”
The last time Day raced at Bondi was 12 years ago, when a spritely 20 year old with long hair mixed it with some of the biggest names the sport has known.
“I was pretty disappointed that day if I recall,” Day said.
“It was an eliminator and I just missed out.
“If you’d told me that day the things that I’d go on to do, and that I’d get a chance to race there again and be the defending champ, with my wife and son watching, I’d probably fall off my chair.”
The final and most important piece of Day’s preparation puzzle is of course, his family.
It was to wife Kel and their son Danny who he dedicated last year’s series victory to.
And his Aussies Ironman title. And his recent record seventh Coolangatta Gold crown.
Day became the first iron athlete to win all three in the same calendar year, completing unquestionably the greatest single-season by any surf sports athlete in history.
And his not-so secret has always been family.
After his parents were forced to watch November’s Coolangatta Gold from a hotel room on the other side of the Queensland-NSW border, Day was always going to make involving them a priority.
He has spent the past week preparing at home in Kiama, the coastal town an hour and a half south of Sydney, embracing all the reasons he has to race at his best.
“I told my wife yesterday that a lot of things have changed for me over the years. Preparing when you’re 20 is so different to when you’re 31 with a wife and kid,” Day said.
“It was challenging going through Covid but I have an incredible wife and son who sacrifice so much for me to go out and do what I do.
“It definitely feels nice to be home. Standing outside, so many things remind me of when I was a kid.
“There’s still so many things I want to do in the next couple of years but for the moment, it’s nice for us all to be together and work as a team. It’s really special.
“I came home last night to my family just sharing a pizza and having a laugh. I think it’s really helped me being at home this week.”
But Day knows better than any that this sport doesn’t hand out fairytales, they have to be earned.
It’s what makes winning consecutive series so difficult and why Day says he has to be better than last year if he is to join that illustrious group.
“I honestly think this is the strongest field we’ve had for a really long time,” he said.
“There’s some really good young kids coming through and the old heads that are still here are also really good.
“The depth is a lot stronger than it’s been in the past three or four years. Whoever wins this year will have to earn it and I’m excited to see who that is and what it will take to do it.”
‘Tammy told me no: Poole’s pink hair days are over
THE LAST time the Nutri-Grain Ironman Series hit Bondi Beach it was a pink-haired Matt Poole who claimed line honours in a stacked field featuring a who’s who of surf sport’s biggest names.
Twelve years on and Bondi continues to be a happy hunting ground for the 33 year old, who finished second behind Ali Day in last weekend’s Summer of Surf event at the famous beach.
“Bondi has been a really successful location for me – I’ve raced twice for one win and a second,” said Poole ahead of Friday’s opening round at North Bondi.
“Not that it really counts so much for anything but it’s a nice bit of confidence going into the weekend.
“A lot has changed in those 12 years. I was 21, 22 years old when I won that round at Bondi and went on to finish second by one point behind Shannon (Eckstein).
“I spent years chasing him around the course to finally get that series win in 2017 when I reversed it and beat him by one point overall.”
The boy from Sydney’s northern beaches is back home with family enjoying a late Christmas get-together after his earlier plans were scuppered due to Covid.
His social media famous fiance Tammy Hembrow tested positive to the virus though Poole says he managed to avoid getting infected.
“Me, Tammy and the kids saw mum and dad to spend Christmas with them when it all fell apart on Christmas Day and everyone got Covid,” Poole said.
“Tammy had it as well but fortunately because she had already isolated as a close contact prior to that I was out of the way.
“We were supposed to have a nice Christmas catch-up with family I hadn’t seen for about a year … so it’s nice to get a couple of days in while I have the opportunity.
“I was out at Queenscliff this morning at the beach I grew up training and racing at. It’s been nice having a different approach (to a series start).”
Poole likened Covid, which has already struck down a number of series competitors in the weeks leading into round one, like “a game of Russian roulette”.
“Fingers crossed I can get to the start line on Friday without any other hiccups, but certainly it’s just another challenge in the road like there always is,” he said.
Widely considered one of the sports’ toughest competitors, Poole says he hasn’t missed a round in his 15 years in the series.
Be it cancelled flights, sickness or even knee surgery 48 hours prior to a race, Poole has dragged himself to the line each time.
Now one of the oldest competitors in the field Poole, who finished seventh last year, says he’s far from finished the sport as evidenced by his most recent success at Bondi.
“It’s been a while since I’ve stood on top of the podium. In the past couple of years I’ve had a second in the Coolangatta Gold, second in the Shannon Eckstein and that second last weekend,” Poole said.
“Last series, the back half was really strong and the other half was really bad.
“If I can get myself in the right head space then I’ll be having a good day racing and I’ll be very confident.”
As for whether the pink hair might make a reappearance, Poole said it was a fond memory best left in the past.
“There’s been so many people hitting me up asking me to do that again,” he said.
“It was a moment and a thought that was really good at the time, but I don’t think I could bring it back 12 years later – I don’t know what Tammy would think about it.
“She thought it was unique back that but I don’t know how she’d find it now, at 33.”
Rising star Collins no longer a Joe Blow
JOE Collins says he is happy to “stay under the radar” but after his breakout 2021 series nobody is going to let that happen again.
The Kiwi prodigy planted his flag last year as one of the sport’s most promising rising stars by finishing third overall in his debut Nutri-Grain Ironman Series.
From relative unknown to a household name in the sport almost overnight Collins, 19, is suddenly one of the first names mentioned when podium placings and series contenders are discussed.
Representing a Northcliffe club with names the likes of Poole, Bevilacqua and Taylor it was Collins who led the way with consistent placings last year.
He’s still trying to wrap his head around it all.
“I definitely shocked myself last year,” he said.
“I was going into it thinking hopefully I’m around that requalifying spot (10th) but to get third was awesome.”
While the Ali Day show stole all the headlines on the way to a historic series cleansweep, Collins had his own private battle with fellow Kiwi and Northcliffe clubmate Taylor for that overall third-place finish.
A seventh in the final round was good for Collins to finish three points clear of Taylor and former series champion Bevilacqua, with Poole not far behind in seventh.
But one successful series does not a surf sports superstar make, and Collins knows it.
“Cory, Bevy and Pooley have still been helping me and keeping a watchful eye,” he said.
“Still being really young I’m stoked to be in the position I’m in but definitely humbled and realising I’m surrounded by some great athletes.”
Collins’ first taste of the famous Bondi Beach came last weekend in the Summer of Surf North Bondi Classic.
His preparation was hampered somewhat having caught and fought off Covid a fortnight prior but he’s fit and firing on all cylinders after blowing off the rust and training at North Bondi all week leading into Friday’s opening round.
“It was my first time at Bondi. I’d heard a lot about how it’s the birthplace of ironman racing in Australia – it was definitely a bigger crowd than I’m used to,” Collins said.
“It was great experience getting a feel for the conditions … hopefully I have a bit of home turf knowledge now that I can use to my advantage.”
Collins says the gruelling format of three rounds in consecutive days suits him down to the ground – as does the expected flat conditions at Bondi.
“I would say my body probably recovers better than some of the older heads in the sport,” he said.
“Plus, I don’t know anything else other than three races each weekend.
“It was pretty much dead flat (last weekend) and based off of last series, I’m probably more of a competitor in the flat where I can rely on my fitness, being a smaller guy.”
Kiwi ironwoman sets sights on elusive round victory
SEVEN years a series regular and with multiple podiums to her name, Danielle McKenzie has her eyes set on that elusive round victory and afterwards, anything is possible.
The Northcliffe athlete had her best-ever Nutri-Grain Ironwoman Series finish last year, both on the podium (second) and overall (fourth).
She backed that up with a career-best second in the Coolangatta Gold, off just six weeks of preparation, and last weekend made the podium at North Bondi in the Summer of Surf Open Ironwoman.
The Kiwi has bolstered her resume considerably in the past 12 months but she’s still without that podium-topping performance to call her own.
“The podium is always the goal – I think my best result has been a second, so obviously that drive to win a race (is there) and hopefully in one of these six rounds I can do that,” the 26 year old said.
“If you’re not looking to win a race you probably won’t get there. That’s something I’ve realised over the past couple of seasons.
“Obviously everyone’s goal is to be in the series and once you’re in, everyone has that goal of winning – it should be your goal.
“I feel like that’s something I haven’t achieved yet and I would really like to.”
Considered one of the best paddlers in the business, McKenzie will have some serious competition this year with two-time canoe sprint Olympian Aly Bull’s return to the series.
The pair set an electric pace in the opening ski leg of the Coolangatta Gold that McKenzie says helped pave the way for her runner-up performance.
“(Bull’s) last-minute entry probably worked in my favour because she knows how to paddle hard in a race and how to work together and I think that’s one thing I’ve really missed the past few years,” McKenzie said.
“There’s a few good ski paddlers in the series this year with Jemma (Smith) and Aly, which makes it exciting.”
The 2022 Series is the second in a row under the modified format, which runs the first three rounds over consecutive days.
Like most of her Northcliffe clubmates McKenzie prefers the bigger swells, but her stellar showing in flat conditions at Kingscliff last year – and podium last weekend – bodes well for another crack at the top spots this weekend.
“I think I race better the more I race, so it will really be about being switched on for that first round and then by the time round three comes along on Sunday, I’ll be ready to go and race again,” said McKenzie of the format.
“You do start to feel taxed after a couple of days’ racing but for me, it makes my body feel ready.”
The Acqua Report: Bevi’s sibling secret to success at Bondi
By BMD Northcliffe Ironman Matt Bevilacqua
THREE back-to-back rounds of the Nutri-Grain Ironman Series is incredibly challenging. It’s like playing back-to-back games of tennis, Aussie rules or rugby league for three days in a row. It’s not what we traditionally do, but due to Covid-related problems this is our second year under the new format.
These formats will take you to a level of hurt you can never truly train for. It’s a true test of who is the toughest and who wants it the most.
After a fourth overall last year with an injury-plagued preparation, I can’t wait to put my best foot on the line this weekend to see if I can go with the next generation of stars led by Joe Collins and Zach Morris, as well as the veterans and superstars like Ali Day, Kendrick Louis and Matt Poole.
One massive benefit I have this weekend is my brother, Joel. He has lived and worked the beach as a Bondi lifeguard for a few years now.
Racing in surf has so many variables: tide, wind, surf, currents – Joel knowing Bondi Beach inside and out will be incredibly helpful for me as my handler.
The handler’s job of collecting and returning craft is an important one. Every competitor needs a competent handler. Plus, my track record with Joel is a good one.
My favourite moment in the sport is in my first year in the series, when we went to the final round at Coolum in 2014. It was heaving surf in a big storm that meant they had to film from a helicopter instead of a drone like usual.
I managed to navigate the absolute chaos, with Joel as my handler, and I got to high-five him on my way up the beach to achieving my first-ever podium behind two of the greatest athletes the sport has ever seen, Ky Hurst and Shannon Eckstein.
In racing everything comes down to millimetres and anything advantage, no matter how slight, can make your job much easier, more fun and ultimately could be the difference between winning and losing.
I think every competitor has their lucky handler for one reason or another and for me, that’s definitely Joel.
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