BEVY INTO IRON FINAL
AFTER finishing fourth in the 2021 Nutri-Grain Ironman Series, Matt Bevilacqua is out for redemption in Saturday’s Australian surf life saving championship final.
Finishing second in his semi-final, Bevilacqua’s sights are now set on his maiden Aussie ironman crown, but it’s not going to come easy.
“That semi was really tough – we’ve lost a bit of the swell so it was a bit of a hard slog. I think it will be much the same on Saturday so it’s going to be a really hard race,” Bevilacqua said.
“Everyone’s a chance, everyone’s swimming really well and the depth in the field at the moment is red hot.
“There’s four titles that I’m after – World Championship, Coolangatta Gold, Nutri-Grain and this one (Australian ironman). I haven’t got this one so far – it’s something that I definitely want to win before the end of my career and hopefully I can get it done on Saturday.”
Bevilacqua will be surrounded by some familiar faces, with fellow Nutri-Grain Ironmen Ali Day (Surfers Paradise), Matt Poole (Northcliffe), Wes Gould (Kurrawa) and Jackson Borg (Newport) all finishing well in their semi-finals. But some new faces are not to be underestimated, he said.
“We’ve got Hayden Cotter who’s a world standard swimmer, and the swim is the first leg so he’s straight into it and he’s not even in the series,” Bevilacqua said.
Bevilacqua is also hoping to qualify his Northcliffe team for the Open Male Taplin Relay, which he holds in high regard. “It’s incredibly special, the six person Taplin, there’s not a feeling like it.”