The 1984 Coolangatta Gold

The July 1984 issue of Triathlon magazine tells the story of the first year of the Coolangatta Gold Surf Life-Saving event. The race was actually invented to facilitate the making of a film.

Only the trailer and a few clips are on YouTube in English. Oddly, the full-film is available in German!

Images: Triathlon (USA) July 1984

Reading this article motivated me to do some more research. About Guy Leech. Who they call Craig Leech in the article! And the Surf Life-Saving scene in general. It looks great. Especially the Nippers programmes.

I’d like to get involved in the sport. But Munich is somewhat land-locked. I’ll investigate. I was at university with a guy who competed. From Devon. Or Cornwall. He trained with the triathlon club because he also needed to run. But did all sorts of weird underwater stuff during swim sets.

It’s got me thinking about the future of triathlon. And getting events away from roads. Keeping the race self-contained near a beach, in a park or around a swimming pool. Really short distances. Linking swim, bike and run multiple times and in different orders. Heats and finals. Sign me up!