Kiama’s Ali Day has done it again – won the Coolangatta Gold ironman competition for the 8th time!

He crossed the line just two minutes shy of four hours, despite having a seven centimetre calf tear.

“He had to have a huge amount of physiotherapy over the last two and a half weeks, and he told me after the race that it was the hardest one he has ever done,” says his father Ross Day, who was there with wife Kim to see both Ali and his brother Blair race.

“By the end of the board Ali was 500 metres ahead, but he won by just a minute after the run. He told me he was running at only 65-70 per cent capacity, having to stop to tape up his leg and kick off his shoes.”

While 32 year old Ali has hinted it might be his last Coolangatta Gold, he still has a gruelling six months ahead of him, including the World Championship of ocean swims in Perth, the Nutrigrain Ironman series beginning in Manly in December (he won the Ironman series this year, for the fourth time) and overseas competitions.

Blair, who also began his career at Kiama SLSC, came 15th out of a pack of 30 in the elite race. He is returning home shortly for a season of lifeguarding at Kiama and Shellharbour, and his parents hope he is going to stay.