OceanFit instructor Lia Trebilcock completes gruelling 42km Coolangatta Gold!

OceanFit’s senior instructor Lia Trebilcock has ticked off a major bucket list item by completing the gruelling 41.8km Coolangatta Gold on the weekend!

The ‘Cooly Gold’ started as a movie over 30 years ago, and since then has become an icon on the Australian surf lifesaving calendar.

The marathon multidiscipline event combines ocean swimming, running, board paddling and surf skiing. To be exact, it is made up of:

• 23km ski paddling (think kayaking)
• 9.2km running
• 3.5km ocean swimming
• 6.1km board paddling (like a big surfboard)

In finishing the event, in a time of 6:29, Lia became the first female competitor from Bondi surf club to do so (an amazing achievement for a club of such rich history) and stood on the podium to receive the bronze medal in the female 30-39-year-old age group.

While most of us were tucked up in bed, or exploring other interests over the winter, Lia was putting herself through a demanding training schedule to ensure she was in tip-top shape for the race.

“I’ve never trained so hard, or for so long, in my life” said Lia,

“I was asked by the announcer at the finish line whether I’d be up for it again next year, but I couldn’t even think about that, so I told him I’d need 2-months just to process what happened!”

Long Course Coolangatta Gold done in 6hrs and 29min 🙂 even got a bronze medal 🙂 thanks so much to my amazing support crew – @kristymcintyr, Mark, Mum & Dad couldn’t have done it without you 🙂 thanks to @mattogarey from #wetfitness for writing a brilliant ski program and was awesome to have the Bondi crew there cheering me on – it was a tough race and you all got me through 🙂 #bosoceansports #coolangattagold2016 #jmpaddleboards #vorgeemissile #koziiswim

A photo posted by LiaTrebilcock (@liatrebilcock) on Oct 16, 2016 at 12:12am PDT

For those of you who have met Lia, you know that she is a strong and determined person, but perhaps her quiet and calm demeanour has fooled you into thinking that she wouldn’t be up for a challenge of this magnitude.

Safe to say, after a BIG week of training I wasn’t ecstatic to find a 4k swim set waiting for me at the pool this morning… the sunshine and satisfaction of getting it done much more easily than I was expecting is nice though 🙂 second breakfast time! #coolangattagold2016

A photo posted by LiaTrebilcock (@liatrebilcock) on Aug 20, 2016 at 7:04pm PDT

And that’s just the way Lia likes it.

What Lia lacks in size, she more than makes up for in mental toughness, determination and courage.

All the qualities ocean swimmers need to take on the challenges of the ocean, and that’s exactly what she’ll be passing on this summer (this time with even better stories!).

Well done Lia, we’re all so proud of you.

Last big Cooly session D.O.N.E 🙂 #bosoceansport #jmpaddleboards #dolphinsurfcraft #bennettpaddles #koziiswim #vorgeemissile #coolangattagold2016 #7moresleeps #6forJules

A photo posted by LiaTrebilcock (@liatrebilcock) on Oct 9, 2016 at 2:54am PDT