COVER FEATURE
COURTNEY HANCOCK Photographer- Luke Marsden
COURTZ GOLD A champion in or out of the water, Courtney Hancock talks about life, training, racing and being a better person. Statistics in sport tell us the basics. Wins, losses and not much else. Nothing about the training, grit and determination in competition nor the highs and lows that affect the athletes. Over her 16 year career Courtney Hancock has won multiple individual and team events including four Australian Surf Swim titles, two Australian Ironwoman and three Kellogg’s NutriGrain Professional Ironwoman Series titles. Add to that her fourth win late last year in what is the Melbourne Cup of her sport - the lung searing, leg burning endurance race that is the Coolangatta Gold. Those highlights never reveal the endless hours of training away from the spotlight. The early morning sessions in or on the water, the gut wrenching gym sessions and the time spent giving her body the chance to recover before doing it all again. Her training and dedication truly epitomises the loneliness of being a long distance athlete. For Courtney, her path to greatness began at Nippers at her then home club in Sawtell. “The area has a huge love for surf lifesaving and some incredible athletes come from that area. We lived not far from the club so it was a natural place to hang out, have fun and compete,” said Courtney. “Mum and dad wanted my sisters and I to be safe in the water
so the club was our playground. It probably clicked for me when I was seven and boys and girls would race over a mini course and I would aim to win every time. Some of the boys weren’t too impressed by that,” she giggled. For someone who is the true definition of a ‘water baby’ there was one event she hated. “Swimming races! I could swim but in a surf race everyone is side by side, head to toe and you always get kicked in the face so I used to hang back and let everyone go past me. I ended up going to the NSW State Titles in the Under 12s and Dad knew my fear of getting hurt. His solution was very simple – go as fast as possible and get way in front so that they can’t kick or hit me. It worked and I won so that was a defining moment. I continued training and competing and my big breakthrough was at the Aussie
16 GOLD COAST • PANACHE Magazine
