The Coolangatta Gold established its origins in a 1984 movie of the same name, in which two brothers competed against each other for the same surf lifesaving prize. The movie starred Colin Friels and Grant Kenny, a former ironman and Olympian.

Kenny and his father (who was also an ironman) came up with the idea for a movie about an ironman race. Instead of filming a fake race, the 1984 movie was filmed in conjunction with the running of the inaugural race in front of a massive crowd at Surfers Paradise and many of the scenes in the film are real footage from the race.

The actual race was won by Guy Leech, who at the time was an unheralded 18-year-old from Manly. He went on to become one of the greatest surf lifesaving ironmen of all time.

The race concept - a marathon test of endurance incorporating swimming, kayaking, board paddling and running up the Gold Coast coastline taking more than four hours to complete - proved such a winner that it was staged again in 1985.

Unfortunately the cost of running the event was so big that it disappeared until 1991 and 1992 before returning each year since 2005. Since that time, the likes of Caine Eckstein, Alicia Marriott and Hayley Bateup have dominated on the podium.

The 2011 Coolangatta Gold will be the fifth year SLSA will open the event up to the public so that everyone can ‘share the pain!’

This year’s event is expected to draw the best surf sports talent and endurance athletes in the world.

Honour Roll

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