Dorries’ wild ride ready for new test
KE’ALE Dorries’ 2019 hasn’t gone to plan.
The 21-year-old was at the peak of her craft and had plans to travel overseas and race stand up paddleboards internationally when sickness struck.
The Elanora resident appeared to have just recovered from influenza, only to contract the infection once more in addition to a bout of pneumonia.
“I’d gotten into a really great routine of waking up every morning and getting on the water so it was hard and I had to force myself not to get into the water,” she said.
“I knew people were moving on me and getting better while I was sitting there.
“I thought I was getting better but then it hit me twice as hard and I probably spent three months doing nothing and trying to recover. I’ve only just started back training in the past month.
“I’m still recovering.” Months on from her initial battle and Dorries is ready to make up for lost time.
This weekend she will compete at the Queensland SUP technical racing titles as she looks to continue her streak of featuring at the Australian SUP titles next month.
Dorries has already qualified for the distance racing event at the 12 Towers ocean race and just missed out on qualifying for the SUP surfing category but this weekend will attempt to make it two out of three and succeed in the technical event.
“I’ve been doing some of my own training specifically for the race with my coach Troy Pease (last year’s over-40 men’s state champion) and my mum Sue,” she said. “I’ve competed at the Australian titles every year since I was probably 12.”
Dorries, who started SUP over a decade ago, believes she may have the upper hand on fellow competitors with the state titles set to be staged at Lacey’s Beach, Currumbin.
“It’s not like most beaches around Australia because it’s got the channel next to it so it’s very unpredictable,” she said. “I train there every day and have grown up on that beach so hopefully I’ve got a bit of local knowledge.”