Rival Super Stars
Ky Hurst
At the early age of 15, Ky became one of the youngest contenders in the Uncle Toby’s Super Series, winning 3 annual titles consecutively. He is also the only man to have won 7 Australian Ironman titles and is now regarded as one of the best Ironmen in the history of Surf Lifesaving. This drive has seen him win 24 Australian Surf titles making him the 3rd highest medal winner in the Surf Lifesaving Australian Championships and now a proud member of Surf Lifesaving’s Hall of Fame.
Despite Ky’s success on the national Ironman circuit, he still did not feel complete as an athlete and set his sights on competing for Australia at the Olympic Games. He gave up his career in the surf in 2005 to focus solely on swimming as the 10Km Open-water swim was announced as an inaugural Olympic event.
Ky raced alongside teammate Grant Hackett at the 2008 FINA World Championships for a berth at the Beijing Olympics, where both swimmers had to qualify top ten. Ky was the only man to make it through for Australia placing 5th. Ky competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, finishing 11th in the 10km Open Water Swim event.
Ky recently completed the 2009-2010 Ironman season and is focusing on local and international distance events. He still has his sights set on the London games, again to compete in the 10km Open Water swim and will be supporting Brendan Capell on his attempt at the English Channel record in late August.
Hayley Bateup
Residing on the Gold Coast, QLD, this charismatic 29-year-old Surf lifesaver / Ironwoman could possibly be the fittest Australian female athlete of all time. Underpinned by an incredible inner-drive and gruelling and constant training load, Hayley’s national & international record speaks for itself. Certainly, out of the water, there are very few prouder Australian athletes who can compare with her combination of striking physical appearance and accomplished presentation skills.
Intelligent, confident, charming and sometimes controversial, Hayley has proven to be an ideal presenter and interviewee for television, radio & print.
- Coolangatta Gold Champion - 2005, 2006 & 2008
- Australian Ironwoman Champion – 2001; 2nd in 2004, 2005 & 2008
- Australian Board Champion – 2009, 2005, 2003 & 2001; 2nd in 2002, 2004
- Australian Board Rescue Champion- 2009
- Australian Ski Relay Champion - 2009
- Australian Ski Champion 2008
- Kellogg’s Nutrigrain – 3rd Coolum 2009
- Australian 2km beach run- 2nd 2008
- State Ironwoman and Board Champion 2008
- State Ironwoman 2009 runner up
- Hennessy International Paddle Board Champion 2001-2006
- Paddles extensively throughout USA & Hawaii
- Completed the 25hr Board Paddle from Cuba to Florida in 2004
- Winner - Molokai to Oahu Board Paddle (52km) in 2003, 2nd in 2005
- Currently Ranked No#2 Paddler in the world, 2nd at the World Titles
- Considered the most competitive, aggressive and fittest racer in her sport and is without peer in big surf conditions.
Hayley Bateup is an extraordinary young Australian known for an intense competitive streak and thrives in conditions mere mortals would fear to tread. With many years of competition ahead of her, good judges have said she has the ability and drive to be the best Iron Woman this country has produced.
Pierce Leonard
Born in Paddington, New South Wales, and with two older brothers and an older sister – all of whom played sport -it was inevitable that Pierce would also become involved in sports.
His first sport was swimming at the age of 3 at Heffron Pool, Maroubra where a Club Night was held every Friday night. Pierce watched his brothers and sister compete and was determined to do so himself – badgering his mother until she relented and let him compete! His first race was a 25 metre freestyle dash! Even though he finished last – most of the other competitors being around 7 years old – he then went from strength to strength, competing every Friday. This was the start of his training commitment! He trained 3 times a week while still competing on the Club Night on Friday nights.
When the family moved to the Gold Coast in 1992, Pierce was 5 and immediately became a member of Surfers Paradise Surf Life Saving Club. Here he trained with Billy Eckstein as his Surf Coach and ex-Olympian Brad Cooper as his Swim Coach, up until the age of 19. Under their watchful eyes, he won numerous Branch, State and Australian Surf Life Saving Medals. He then moved to Northcliffe Surf Live Saving Club where he has won an Australian 19 Ironman and 2 Open Ironman Championships. All up, he currently holds 22 Australian Surf Life Saving Medals.
His favourite event as a kid was the 50 metre Butterfly, now, he loves Ironman racing, particularly the Australian Surf Life Saving Titles because the competing is spread out over 4 days; but gets massive pleasure out of Team Events – where he can share the victories with his club mates.
Commenced a Fitness Leadership Course in 2009 through The Australian Institute YMCA which will be completed in 2010. This involves Nutrition and Exercise. At the end of the course, Pierce will be a Certified Fitness Leader and hopes to continue coaching the Northcliffe Nippers which he has been doing during 2010.
Away from his training, competing and studying, Pierce enjoys playing golf, surfing, gardening, working out in the home gym with his brothers and mates.
Alyce Bennett
Alyce grew up in Yamba on the north coast of NSW. Even though she was always a member of the surf club, she didn’t really get in to comps until she was about 13 after coach Jim Dougherty taught her how to paddle a board.
As a junior Alyce’s favourite event was the board race. In 2000 she was a state finalist for the NSW Junior Surf Life Saver of the year, and in 2002 won her first Australian medal- silver in the u/16 board race.
It wasn’t until 2004, when she won a NSW Ironwoman title, that Alyce thought she could seriously have a crack at Ironwoman events instead of just being a board specialist. Once she finished high school, Alyce moved to the Gold Coast and joined the North Burleigh surf club. Later that year she qualified for her first Kelloggs Nutri-grain Ironwoman series and at just 17 years of age finished 10th overall.
Alyce has been competing in the series the past 5 years, and in her 4th series (2008), triumphed a win in Round 3 at Coolum (QLD) sealing the biggest winning margin in the professional series history.
After straining to balance training with work and uni commitments and personal concerns Alyce struggled to bring together a consistent 2009/2010 season, only managing a couple of solid board races toward the end of the season. This year Alyce focusing on qualifying for the Kelloggs Series, and also on the World Titles that are being held in Egypt in October.
Alyce is now training under North Burleigh head coach Wes Berg, ski coach Nick Crilly, and swim coach Dennis Cottrell at Miami pool.
“I’ve had some amazing experiences through surf life saving, promoting the Coolangatta Gold at the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival; acting as a SLSA ambassador at a Parliament House dinner in Canberra; doing photo shoots for magazines; and more recently travelling to China, Macau and Hong Kong as an ambassador for SLSA to teach athletes from China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea and Hong Kong how to paddle a board.”
- 2nd Open Womens Board QLD State Titles 2010
- Winner round 3 Kelloggs Nutri-Grain Ironwoman Series 2009
- 3rd NIB Coolangatta Gold 2008
- 3rd round 3 Kelloggs Nutri-Grain Ironwoman Series 2008
- 4th NIB Coolangatta Gold 2007
- 1st Open Womens Board QLD State Titles 2006
- 1st u/19 Board Australian Titles 2005
- 3rd u/19 Ironwoman Australian Titles 2005
- 2nd u/19 Ski Australian Titles 2005
- 1st u/19 Ironwoman NSW State Titles 2004
- 2nd u/19 Board NSW State Titles 2003
- 2nd u/16 Board Australian Titles 2002
James Stewart
Aged 21, James was born in Brisbane and grew up on the Gold Coast. He trains at North Burleigh under Wes Berg and Nick Crilly, and Swim at Miami under Dennis Cotterel.
His favourite events as a kid was the board race. However he moved into more ironman racing as he got older. The board and Ironman races remain his favourite now.
James’, achievements to date include Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Series 2008-2009 and 2009-2010, 16 Australian gold medals, 20 Queensland gold medals, Queensland State team U16, U17, U19.
His future goal is to win an Australian open board and ironman race.
Tara Coleman
Growing up in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney NSW, Tara Coleman didn’t actually start Nippers until the age of 12. Signing up at South Maroubra SLSC, where Lisa Mcguigan her long time board coach took the youngster under her wing. In 2008 she made the move up the beach to the Maroubra SLSC, where her coaching team includes Lisa Mcguigan, Dennis & Kane Heussner (ski) and Jon Shaw (swim) at Heffron pool Maroubra.
As a young nipper Tara’s favourite event was the swim, as she didn’t have to take any craft in the water. Now though, her favourite event would be the Ironwoman events as she enjoys linking the ski, board and swim altogether.
A few years after her move to Maroubra, at the age of 17, Tara started to become more focused on the one sport, competing in Surf Life Saving.
A lot of her time is training in preparation for key events, and Tara finds one of her biggest challenges is training down in Sydney during winter, when it can become very cold and miserable. Her motivation to endures these early morning conditions remains her self-set goals; To be a strong competitor in events such as the Coolangatta Gold, NSW & Australian Titles and of course her most recent achievement, selection to compete in her first, Nutri-Grain Ironwoman Series.
Whilst she still has a lot to achieve, the wildcard entry in the Ironwoman Series provides Tara with a fantastic opportunity to see if she has what it takes to be a successful competitor in these types of events.
Tara has been signed to Rival Swimwear since Nov 2009 and whilst quite a seasoned athlete at the age of 20, she nevertheless finds it strange to see herself in their recent national advertising campaign.
‘It’s still funny when I see one of my posters on the back of a bus or my picture in the paper, it reminds me of how lucky I am to experience this.’
Siobhan McCarthy
Siobhan’s triathlon & sporting career is only a short one, with no tales of lots of travelling to races, or growing up watching international races, or even local ones.
For the last 10 years, Siobhan spent most of her time “down the beach” loitering on the steps of the surf club, in the gym, or catching “party waves” but most commonly doing lap after lap of Bondi running on the soft sand. Siobhan has been heavily involved in the Surf Life Saving, and been in pursuit of an Australian Title in the 2km Soft Sand Run for a number of years. Whilst still her passion for Surf Life Saving still sees her competing, but a new found love for longer distance running saw her with a new coach and a new world of opportunity.
Siobhan’s passion for a challenge saw her buy her first bike in mid 2009 and learnt very quickly that three sports were better than 1. She found herself being coached by the mad professor – Spot Anderson and the team at Bondi Fit and he has helped her achieve some pretty amazing things in such a short amount of time.
The past 18mths has been nothing short of amazing. Siobhan raced her first ever triathlon, a number of podium finishes in her age group in a number of races, raced against professionals in the NSW Pro Tour, NSW Surf Life Saving Champion, a silver medal at the Australian Titles, winning the North Bondi Barefoot, and Top 10 finish in the Sun Herald City To Surf.
Siobhan loves working hard, and seeing the results, She love people telling her she can’t do something, because she won’t stop until she does it – Beyond the world of triathlons, When not swimming, riding or running, Siobhan is studying for her Masters Degree in Journalism through Charles Sturt University, she also loves her morning coffee with her best friend in her favorite café, and whilst all of this keeps her incredibly busy, she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Siobhan loves her sport, and is determined to be the best triathlete she can be, but most of all she loves her family who she couldn’t live without.