Irons on Fire (and stop-press news about my quad tear)

Here's more from Cassandra Murnieks on the Quiksilver Pro. Meanwhile, I know you'll all want to know about my quad tear. What's that? You don't care? Well, I'll tell you anyway. The medical advice from top local physio Ben Donaldson is depressing: no surfing for three weeks. Ben advises against boxing, too. Certainly no footie though even I wouldn't try and play with the leg as it is. Basically, no explosive sports if I want to be in shape to enjoy a few Bajan waves in the second half of March. Though Ben says that skating Mad Dog Hill is OK (no pushing involved, just downhill all the way)... Anyway, back to the real thing - here's Cassie on the action on the Gold Coast (with thanks to the ASP World Tour for the images of the Hawaiian ripping).

Three-time world champion Andy Irons sent out a message to his fellow competitors that he means business after scoring the highest single wave score in his second round heat at the Quiksilver Pro on the Gold Coast yesterday.

After being relegated to the second round, Irons showed no mercy against Tahitian wild card Tamaroa McComb amassing a total score of 16.37 (9.00 and 6.67) compared to McComb’s 5.90. “I haven’t got a 9.00 in about six months so it felt unreal,” Irons said. “I haven’t made heats in a while and I guess I just haven’t been into it. In the off season I really had to think about that and now I’m really psyched. I want to be here and I want to do well. I like to win heats and it feels good, it’s my new buzz.”

Irons’ last win was at the Rip Curl Pro in Chile last year and he will be looking to redeem himself after finishing 6th at the end of the tour in 2007. “I have been surfing against the five top guys for the past six years and I have done well against all of them, so I know I can be in that group,” Irons said. “Being 6th last year is an ok result, but it’s not good enough for me.”

Wildcards always draw the shortest straw when it comes to their heats and it will be no different when Australian Julian Wilson comes up against World Champion Mick Fanning in a third-round showdown.
Wilson made it to the third round last year at Snapper Rocks and is the last remaining wildcard.

“It’s going to be very tough, he’s pretty much on fire as everyone has seen,” Wilson said of Fanning. “But I want to do better than I did last year. I have nothing to lose and to get the experience and surf Snapper with one other guy out is great.”

The Australians are always hard to beat at the famed Gold Coast break and this year will be no different. Whilst top-name surfers such as Fanning, Joel Parkinson and Taj Burrow are favourites, Adrian Buchan has been dubbed the ‘silent assassin’ after annihilating Brazilian Jihad Khodr in their second round match-up.
Buchan nailed a 9.00 point ride early in the 30-minute heat and backed it up with a 8.00 shortly after.
“ I’ve put in a lot of hard work in the past month, so I really wanted to see it come to fruition in the first event,” Buchan said. “I got that first wave and it really hugged the bank, it was nice and steep so I got the good start I needed.”

‘Ace’ as he is known to his mates spent the early part of 2007 injured but managed to finish 5th in the last event at Pipeline in Hawaii. “The last three months of 2007 were probably the best three months I’ve had on tour,” Buchan said. “Those performances at the back end of the year plus the hard work I have put in over the last month, have given me a lot of confidence. My body feels the best it has felt in years, my ankle injury has healed and I have worked really hard on it so it feels really strong.”

Young guns Jordy Smith (ZAF) and Dane Reynolds (USA) had strong wins to also earn themselves a third round spot.

Comments

[alf alderson]

Pah! Three weeks?

That's nowt. You should try seven months...!!

Then again the sheer joy of riding waves again after such a long break is almost worth the lay off.

Almost...

Three weeks will fly by Alex, and think of all the 'real' work you can do in the meantime!

[Alex Wade]

I did think of you Alf as I wrote that and had a feeling you might drop me a line! You're right, a quad tear and four weeks out of the water is nowt compared with your travails. But glad to hear you're enjoying your surfing again now.

Cheers
Alex