ALEXANDRA HEADLAND SLSC NEWSLETTER

Telstra Ironwoman Cont...Standing on the beach talking toTrevor Hendy and Phil Claytonwhen Phil says he remembered thefirst time he saw Portsea, he criedand Trevor did exactly what Phildid for Alyssa. Now that is the signof true champions, passing onknowledge to help the young gunscome through.Race day comes, Phil's words toAlyssa are “It’s only water.” Offshe goes for a warm up swim withSam, sucked out in the rip again,around the cans and back in.Shane waxes the board and ski toprovide more grip for theconditions. Alyssa goes out on theboard. She flies out, smooth, cleannot a care in the world. Then ontothe ski, with more wax thannormal, she gets SMASHED by theshore dump, tears roll down,Shane explains the need for morewax, but she didn’t like it. Shanewaved me down to help with thetears and to explain about the wax.I tell her it’s like a seat belt withthat much wax in these conditions,but Alyssa still doesn’t like it. I tellher “great athletes adjust, so todayis the day to be a great athlete.”She gets on still not happy, wigglesaround but off she goes and makesit out clean and smooth. Tensionsare rising in all areas. Alyssa comesin and Sam sets the up ski readyfor the race. We discuss the raceplan and the instructions. The fearis still evident in Alyssa's eyes butshe gets warm by putting a hotwater bottle inside her jacket.“OK Ladies you’re on… line it up”were the words from theorganisers.The ski leg is first, girls areshivering, fear in a lot of eyes, eventhe legends, they knew whatPortsea can deliver. The gun goes,they grab their skis and run downto the rip. Some more so thanothers, Shane yelling “Get On”,she’s on clean no wiggling, she getssucked out in the rip wavesforming out the back, tension onthe beach. “She needs to commit,she needs to go now, bloody hell”were some words being said. She’sout over the last wave. Remembersome of these waves are huge, thetip of the ski to the end of the skicover the face of the wave. What agreat start. Now to get in, NaomiFlood the Olympian takes controlof the first leg makes it look easy.Alyssa comes in smooth justslightly losing it at the end. Thenshe’s into her favourite leg; theboard. She goes with the packaround the cans. Theses cans are aLONG way out. Paddling well,comes to the wave zone, Alyssadoesn’t want to take the wave butPortsea had a different idea, it tookher and she had to commit. It wasa BIG one, down she went and heldit. Well done. Now into the swimleg. She goes in with the group andmust be tired now. This is twicethe distance of a normalIronwoman race. Keeping up withthe pack and looking for a wave,but no avail, so Alyssa swims thewhole way in, finishing in 14thspot.“OK ladies you have 10mins, getyourselves warm and ready to go.”Alyssa goes for swim down, niceand easy, gets her breath backready to do it all again. This time itwas Board, Swim, Ski. She takes offon the board, this time committing,listening to Shane, in 4th placegoing around the distant cans, intothe wave zone just behind the top3 girls pushing for a wave. Justmisses the wave and the other 3get it. Now she looks behind herand a boomer has formed,everyone riding the same wave 13girls on this boomer. They come in,chaos in the transition, boardsgoing everywhere, Sam getsswamped. Off she goes into theswim, gets a mouth full of water,still pushing forward coughing andspluttering. Once she gets intorhythm she swims well. There isstill no wave for her on the wayback in and she swims the wholeway. Now for the ski leg. Againthe handlers and coaches areyelling about where to go andwhen to get on. Alyssa is on andstarts paddling with just the tips ofthe paddle going in the water,Shane yells ”just commit to it”,waves forming, she goes over thefirst over and clears the second,SHE’S OUT. Sigh of relief, now sheraces the other girls. She has agreat ski leg comes in smooth,holding it together, this timepaddles down the wave. She musthave listened to Shane’s advice toget in front of the white water. Shepulls away from the other girls, hasa little roll off at the end butfinishes strong coming in 7thbeating some big names likeHayley Bateup and Brodie Moir.BIG smiles, BIG sigh of relief and ahuge weight off her shoulders.She did it! She faced her fears andconquered them. It was aremarkable effort.Alyssa is homeward bound for thenext three carnivals. Join the Bull‘Stampede’ and come to supportAlyssa at the following venues.Make sure you wear somethingORANGE to show Alyssa how muchsupport she has.Surfers Paradise on 9 FebruaryCoolum on 17 February andNoosa 24 February for the final.A very big thank you to Alex SurfLife SavingClub and AlexSupportersClub - Youguys do anawesome job.Newsletter of the Alexandra Headland Surf Lifesaving Club www.alexsurfclub.com.au Page 9