A Sunshine Coast athlete is relishing a fairytale end to the season, after claiming a prized title at the Australian Surf Life Saving Championships.
Tiarnee Massie won the Ironwoman crown, to go with her Ironwoman Series victory in early February, to cap her rise to the top of the sport.
The Maroochydore Surf Life Saving Club member finished ahead of Lily O’Sullivan (Burleigh Heads Mowbray Park) and Gemma Smith-Welch (Northcliffe) on the Gold Coast.
Massie says she has achieved “a childhood dream”.
“I won the Iron Series about a month ago and I never really thought anything could get better than that,” she says.
“It is a fairytale end of the season.”
Massie had some bad luck to start her summer but bounced back to claim the Iron Series-Aussies double.
“At the start of the season, I set huge goals for myself, and I had that huge setback in the (Coolangatta) Gold with my paddle snapping at the beginning of the race,” she says.
“From there, I said to myself: ‘I can’t lose anything by dreaming big and going absolutely after it’.”
Massie thanked those closest to her.
“I would not be the person or athlete I am without my family. They are my rock, my backbone to everything I am, and every fall they lift me back up.”
