The Coolangatta Gold

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The NIB Coolangatta Gold is one of the premier events in the Australian sport of Ironman (surf lifesaving). The event is organised by Surf Life Saving Australia.

Contents 1 The Event 2 Winners 2.1 Men 2.2 Women 3 External links

[edit] The Event

The event takes place annually near Coolangatta, Queensland over a course of approximately 46km. The 2006 course was as follows:

Leg	Discipline	Route	Distance
1	Surfski	Surfers Paradise to Greenmount SLSC	23.km
2	Run	Greenmount SLSC to Coolangatta SLSC	0.65km
3	Swim	Coolangatta SLSC to Bilinga SLSC	3.50km
4	Run	Bilinga SLSC to Currumbin SLSC	4.00km
5	Board	Currumbin SLSC to Burleigh Heads SLSC	5.50km
6	Run	Burleigh Heads SLSC to Surfers Paradise	10.00km
			Total 46.65km

The NIB Coolangatta Gold is one of the original Ironman endurance events involving a 23km surf ski leg from Surfers Paradise to Greenmount before a return journey north that includes a beach run of 0.65km from Greenmount to Coolangatta; a 3.5km surf swim to Bilinga; a 4km beach run to Currumbin and a 5.5km board paddle to Burleigh Heads before the final torturous 10km beach run Burleigh Heads to Surfers Paradise.

Made famous by the 1984 movie of the same name, starring surf lifesaving legend Grant Kenny and a then young up-and-coming actor named Colin Friels, the movie was filmed in conjunction with the running of the inaugural race in front of a massive crowd at Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast.

Many of the scenes in the film are action from the original race held in January 1984 that was won by Guy Leech, who at the time was an unheralded 18-year-old from Manly. Leech also won the second running of the event a year later and went on to become one of the most recognised faces on the Australian sporting landscape.

The Gold was contested in 1984, 1985, 1991 and 1992 before being reformatted and reborn in 2005 as an exciting new era for Surf Life Saving Australia with the modern event now also including a shorter women’s race, team event and masters competitors along with for the first time in 2007 the race being open to non surf lifesaving competitors.

[edit] Winners

[edit] Men

Year	Winner	Second	Third	Racetime
2007	Rhys Drury	Shannon Eckstein	Drew Cairncross	4:10:58
2006	Zane Holmes	Nathan Smith	Dean Mercer	4:25:01
2005	Caine Eckstein	Jeremy Cotter	Shannon Eckstein
1992	Darren Mercer	Michael King	Dean Mercer
1991	Michael King	Darren Mercer	David Kissane
1985	Guy Leech	Stephen McBean	Gray Parkes
1984	Guy Leech	Lawrence Reece	Craig Riddington

[edit] Women

Year	Winner	Second	Third	Racetime
2007	Alicia Marriott	Elizabeth Pluimers	Hayley Bateup	3.22.33
2006	Hayley Bateup	Kristy Harris	Elizabeth Pluimers	3:17:13
2005	Hayley Bateup	Alicia Marriott	Elizabeth Pluimers

[edit] External links

• Surflifesaving Australia website
• The Coolangatta Gold at the IMDB