A young Sunshine Coast surf star is primed for her first attempt at one of the nation’s toughest events.
Tayla Halliday is poised to tackle the long distance Coolangatta Gold, a torture test that includes 23km on a surf ski, 6.1km on a board, a 3.5km swim and 9.2km of beach running.
The Alexandra Headland Surf Life Saving Club member will be one of several Sunshine Coast athletes to contest the great race, which was made famous by the movie of the same name in 1984.
She was eager to make her mark.
“I’m pretty excited but also nervous,” the 19-year-old said in an event press release.
“I’ve watched the Coolangatta Gold quite a few years now and watching the girls’ faces at the end of the race is pretty daunting, knowing that’s going to be me this year.
“It’s the toughest race in our sport and I’m excited to give it a go.
“Since I was 13, I can remember wanting to do the race, I would watch so many of the clips on YouTube and I’d try and find my way to be able to do it.
“I’ve done the short course and for me that was exciting but doing the long course was always something that I wanted to do.
“I want to be one of the people that can say they’ve done it.”
Halliday has the talent to shake the race.
She won the Australian under-19 Ironwoman title at the Australian Surf Life Saving Championships on the Gold Coast in April and finished in the top-10 of the elite Nutri-Grain Ironwoman Series in February.
More recently, she captured three medals at the Surf Life Saving Queensland Endurance Championships on the Gold Coast in September.
She’s also trained hard during the past couple of months.
“It’s been a massive off-season for me,” she said. “I’ve never covered so many kilometres on the craft and in the pool (so) I’m looking forward to seeing how far I’ve come and looking forward to challenging myself this season,”
This year’s event, to be held at Coolangatta on October 15-16, will feature several categories, including Youth, Open, Elite and Masters divisions.
The two-day festival will also include a new event – a Downwind Paddle that covers 15km between Burleigh and Coolangatta.
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