The Coolangatta Gold is an ultra marathon ironman race, based around the disciplines which have derived from the Surf Life Saving movement. It is a 46.65km event, carried out on the beach, in the surf and across the ocean. If the distance is not enough for you, each leg in the race is timed and has its own cut off time. If you do not make the cut off, you are disqualified.
The first leg is a 23km surf ski effort. Starting at Surfers Paradise and running through to Coolangatta, competitors paddle out through the surf before turning right and heading towards the other end of the Gold Coast. While these craft are the fastest in the event, they are also extremely tippy, making it a skill in itself to balance on the sluggish ones, let alone the high performance craft. So when the waves pick up in size, the ski leg always creates excitement. From there, a short run follows. It is marginally less that a km in the sand, taking competitors to the beginning of the swim at the Coolangatta SLSC.
Next, the competitors head out into the surf, battling waves, currents, rips and marine wildlife in a 3.5km swim. We are heading back towards Surfers Paradise so keep in mind that if there is a sweep, (Ie. a strong cross current) while the athletes benefit from it in one direction, they will struggle against it going the other way. Personally, I’d probably prefer at this stage to be swimming with any current, but you rarely get what you want with the Coolangatta Gold.
The swim finishes at Bilinga SLSC where the competitors again take to the sand, this time the run is 4kms long, all the way to Currumbin SLSC. The tides can really play with competitors when running on sand; if it is high, the sand is soft and deep, making the run so much more difficult. If it is low though, it can be compact and hard, almost like concrete – and therefore the ultimate running strategic decision is always there, to wear sneakers or go barefoot. What would you decide?
The board paddle is the next leg in this grueling event. It is a 5.5kms paddling effort through the swells and ocean. It is always faster to paddle while sitting on your knees, but contrarily much easier lying flat, enabling a competitor to conserve energy. So what do you do in this leg? Are you paddling for speed or just to get through it? Are you running out of time, do you need to make up a bit to ensure you are not DQd. Move, get onto those knees, paddle deep and strong.
The board leg comes around the bluff at Burleigh Heads and into the beach out the front of the Burleigh Heads SLSC. From here, the final leg of this event begins. It is another run in the sand, this one a testing 10km run all the way to Surfers Paradise. One of the additional complications with this final run is it is getting into the middle of the day. This means heat, humidity and crowds of people enjoying the beach. One thing about the Coolangatta Gold is that the running track is not roped off – how could it be, the tides move throughout the day. So the athletes run in and out, dodging between unsuspecting people on the beach, many who do not even know there is a race on. This is the final complication in a massive day, imagine requiring that concentration at the end of such a long painful day, while you run 10kms in the sand at the beach. A truly amazing feat.
And when the run finishes back where we started in Surfers Paradise – the finish line. A finish line which I hope to cross in 2011.
