TORTURE TEST
Rivals ready to push bodies to the limit at Cooly Gold
ONE had nightmares after her body failed her last year while the other has had a nightmare preparation for this year’s race but both Georgia Miller and Allie Britton are ready to stare down surf lifesaving’s toughest test to be able to call themselves Coolangatta Gold champion.
The absence of three-time Gold champion Courtney Hancock from the 41km endurance test means a new women’s champion will be crowned on Sunday.
Kurrawa’s Britton heads into the race as favourite after finishing second for the past two years but her withering finish on the final 7.1km run leg is in jeopardy after a bout of plantar fasciitis that has plagued her entire preparation.
Britton ran past Miller in last year’s dying stages as the then-Sydney based ironwoman hit the wall in the gruelling race.
“I nearly didn’t finish last year which just gave me nightmares for weeks and weeks after,” said Miller, who moved to the Gold Coast during the winter and is now based at Northcliffe.
“To be so close to the finish and literally telling your body to go and not having it go is a really scary feeling.
“I look back now and think: ‘What was I thinking?’. I didn’t have enough water and my nutrition wasn’t great.
“I was so excited about it all and so excited that I was with (eventual winner) Courtney Hancock that I just absolutely hit the wall with about 2km to go.
“I was still in second and then got run down by Allie and by Danielle (McKenzie).
“It was heartbreaking. I remember just telling myself, ‘you’ve got to keep moving’ and my legs just wouldn’t go, I got blurred vision and it just wasn’t working well.
“To cross the line by the end of that was an achievement.”
Britton finished just 26 seconds behind Hancock after an outstanding run but she will compete in pain on Sunday with a “shredded” plantar fascia, the connective tissue that runs along the bottom of the foot. “I’ve had a lot of work done on it with specialists … but we’ve run out of time and I’m just going to put it out of my mind and won’t let it deter me,” Britton said.
An inability to run has forced Britton to work on her water legs since moving to Kurrawa in the off-season to link with coach Nick Crilly.
“I definitely have been working on my weaknesses given that my foot’s not been fantastic, I’ve really worked on my swimming and my ski paddling,” she said.