With three Nutri-Grain Ironwoman titles to her name in the last four years, Courtney Hancock is a very credible candidate to be called the outstanding surf racer of her era. Raised in Sawtell, NSW, but now ensconced on the Gold Coast, her achievements in the sport recall the dominance of her idol and inspiration, Karla Gilbert, who ruled the sport in the 1990s. Hancock won Ironwoman titles throughout her teens, before stepping up to the pro series and taking the cake in 2011, 2013 and 2014. She also won the Coolangatta Gold in 2011 and has been a member of the Australian team for years, which has seen her represent her country in Germany, Japan, South Africa, New Zealand and France. Like Gilbert, her healthy good looks and positive attitude have spawned a host of sponsorship opportunities – plus a soon-to-debut hosting role on Deep Water for the Nine Network, in which the ironmen do their thing in made-for-TV race format. Here, she tells how she plans to make it a fourth title this summer. And at just 26 years of age, there just might be a few more to come yet ...

OFF AND RACING

“I grew up in Sawtell in Northern NSW; Mum and Dad had a house right on the beach. That’s where it all started – I was a real water baby. I had three sisters and we just loved the water. When you’re 50 metres from the beach, you find yourself there every day. We grew up playing many different sports – running, swimming, surf lifesaving, basketball, athletics. My parents always believed in a healthy, active lifestyle. We were never pushed to do any sport – they just encouraged us to do whatever we wanted to do. So I started at age five in Nippers. My older sister was a year above me and I just couldn’t wait for my turn, so I actually started training with her when I was four – catching waves on the board and bodysurfing. I guess I just picked it up fairly quick. And as soon as I joined I just wanted to beat the boys – I discovered I had a really competitive nature. When I was about seven, I started watching the Nutri-Grain Ironwoman series on TV on the Sunday afternoons, and I think I fell in love. This was the mid-1990s and Karla Gilbert was the one who grabbed my eye straight away – she looked absolutely beautiful; the way she raced and how she came across. In my head I knew that I really wanted to do that. So I couldn’t wait for my turn to get out there. In those early years I was more of a board paddler; in the swim I was more of a dawdler. I just loved the surf and mucking around. So I was out there winning State [age titles] on the board, but funnily enough, I was usually at the back of the field in the swimming. It wasn’t until I was in the Under 12s at the NSW State titles that I remember saying to myself that I’m really going to give this a go rather than just doing breaststroke and mucking around. So I went out and I won it. From that day I kind of said, ‘Wow, I can actually swim!’ So I went in the ironwoman as well. And won that too. I won the swim, board and iron all at the same meeting. Swimming then became my forte – my weapon in the ironwoman. When I was 15 I went to the Australian titles – that was the first year I was allowed to race. One of the other girls was actually already in the Nutri-Grain series at 16, Emma Wynne. I hadn’t ever really paddled a ski or anything – I was a little behind. So no one knew who I was and everyone expected Emma to win. And I came out and won it. And everyone was like, ‘Where are you from?’ And then the next year I made the series.”

OFF-SEASON?

“I always give myself a good eight to nine weeks off after the Australian titles. It’s probably a bit longer than other people take off, but I like to rest myself and make sure I’m keen to really get back into it. I did that earlier this year, then I got back into training for a few weeks, and then I got the call-up to be the host of the next series of Deep Water – it’s a TV series that’s coming up next year; six ironmen battle it out over in America. I had a few trial runs and then they said they were going to give me a go. So I went over there for a month and I had a fantastic time; for me it’s another string to my bow when I’m finished in the sport. Then I came back and I had two weeks to try and get fit for the Worlds in France. That was pretty tough – and I guess I went over there only 75 percent fit. But I was really happy that I managed to get a third in the ironwoman. Since coming back from France, I’ve really been stuck into training. So it’s been different for me this year – I haven’t had the workload I normally would have. I’ll definitely go into this season fresh! But it meant I didn’t race in the Coolangatta Gold this year. You’ve got to be smart. I’ve got to listen to my body; I’ve got to look after it. I want to be in this sport for many more years to come.”

SUMMER SCHEDULE

“There are three weekend events in the Nutri-Grain Ironwoman series this year – and they’re spaced apart by several weeks. When you’re racing back-to-back you know what you have to do: you recover, you taper, you race again, and you continue that for the next couple of weeks. This series means having two weeks’ break, then three weeks’ break in between; you do have to make sure you have your recovery, but then you can fit in almost an entire week of hard training. But you can’t do too much in case you flatten yourself ... So that’s why you’ve got to really listen to your body and respect how you feel. I’ve had a lot of promotional and sponsorship commitments recently – overdoing it is a risk. But you’ve just got to make sure you really balance things. I like to have a 45-minute sleep every day, so I have to fit that in. I just have to be really careful with my time.”

POOL RESOURCES

“My alarm goes off at 4.55am. I’m in the pool four mornings a week training with Denis Cotterell. We do roughly six kays in a session. It’s a bit of everything. Monday morning is usually endurance; Friday mornings is usually 50s – working on the sprint. And then Tuesdays and Thursdays are usually heart-rate sets, practising working out that lactate and getting that heart-rate up and seeing how quickly you can recover.”

SURF’S UP

“Every afternoon we’re out in the surf or on the river, and that’s either ski or board paddling for an hour. My coach is Gavin Hill at Northcliffe. I’ll do ski on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and board on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Sometimes if I’m really tired – it might be on a Friday afternoon – I’ll just go out and do my own thing and do a }board surf or a ski surf. I just do that when I feel a little bit fatigued but I’m still working on my skill level. I’m quite experienced now and I know what I have to do, and I know how my body feels.”

IRON LADY

“On Tuesdays and Thursdays from about midday I do gym and running. I combine that together for an hour. In the gym it’s basic endurance and strength work. I’m definitely not the naturally strongest at lifting weights, but I always try to see how far I can go. But at the moment I’m doing lighter weights and more reps – it kind of works for me.”

GO FIGURE

“I think being a girl is always a lot harder than the males staying in condition – they seem to lose weight pretty quick. But honestly, I’ve never had to worry about my weight at all – I’ve been very lucky. I’ve always been very active, and my Mum and my family are pretty lean. But I have to admit that this year has been the first year where I’ve felt like I’m growing into a woman – if that’s the way to put it. In the off-season I went to America and believe me, there’s plenty of delicious foods. I’m like every other girl – I have to make sure I have a healthy diet and also do that exercise. And I’ve been lucky enough because I do train really hard. You do strip down pretty quick when you’re training three times a day. You don’t have to worry too much. Diet is just like running a car: you want good fuel. That’s the way I look at it. I want the best fuel in my body because I want to produce the best results I can. So I do eat very healthy. I’ve changed a bit over the years. I used to eat a lot of pasta and a lot of bread, but now I’m more meat and vegetables – fresh food that basically doesn’t have any processing in it. Endura have always looked after me; I’m taking my protein shakes all the time. And I’m obsessed with fruit. Plenty of fruit. But that’s me – I keep things pretty simple. I like chicken and brown rice and all that for lunch. And for dinner I like a steak and vegetables. So I don’t exactly watch what I eat, but I make sure I’m getting a lot of good food into me. I’ll never be starving through the day because that’s when I know I’m not looking after my body. I have this theory that if I want my body to win, I’ve got to treat it right. I’m really lucky to live with my older sister. She’s definitely head chef – I’m assistant chef ... let’s put it like that. We eat the same. She’s a mum and she has a little boy and her husband, so they’ve got to feel good as well. All of us seem to be pumping with a lot of energy.”

EXTRAS

“I always have my multivitamin and vitamin C. Before and after swimming I’ll have a protein shake, which is by Endura. And throughout the day I’ll take a scoop of electrolyte powder, which is Endura as well. That’s just basically replacing what I lose in my workouts. I also take Inner Health Plus every day: the fitter you are the more your immune system can be damaged because you’re pushing your body so much. You can pick up those little bugs that are going around easier than a normal person. That’s just there to help me get by and not pick up these little nasties when I get on a plane or something like that.”

HANDS ON

“I get a massage and I see my physio once a week – this is to prevent injury. I also do ice baths as much as I can. I’m happy if I have two a week. Though I hate them. I never used to believe they could work so well; that it was all a mental thing. But now I swear by them. They really help with that recovery during the week. We’ve got them at the surf club. You get these bins and fill them up with water and ice and jump in there for as long as you can. That depends on how I’m feeling. I have to admit, I’m a bit of a shocker on the old ice bath, but if I can stay in there for five minutes that’s pretty good for me.”

IN THE ZONE

“In our sport a race is definitely never over until the finish. That’s because we’ve got the surf – Mother Nature plays a big hand in our races. So I definitely know that if I’m behind, it’s not over till it’s over. I get free when I race – I get into this little bubble, in a zone. As much as I want to win, I want to finish a race knowing I gave absolutely everything that I possibly could. And at the end of the day, if’s that second, I’m still happy with that. Because sometimes things are going to go wrong for you. I’m the kind of person who gives 110 percent – I don’t do things in halves. If I’m behind, I’m still going to be coming for whoever’s at the front. I’m going to hunt that person down. It’s a damn good feeling finishing when you’ve given it absolutely everything and won. Last year I had a race in Newcastle where it was a sprint finish with one of my main competitors. Things hadn’t gone right for me throughout that whole race ... The lead kept on getting shared, then I managed to slew my ski, then we had the sprint finish. But that was one of the best races I’ve ever done. Because I never gave up. I never let it get to me even though things weren’t going right. I definitely get disappointed if I don’t win. If I didn’t, I’d be almost ready to finish the sport. But if I finish the race and it’s not first, then I learn from it: I watch that race and I learn what I did wrong. And then I get over it. If the race is on a Sunday, I probably won’t be the happiest person in the world on Sunday night. But by Monday morning I’m into my recovery and I’m moving on to the next one. You have to let it go. You put it behind you and get ready for the next one. I think that all comes with experience.”