Without much racing to do until June I have taken some time out for myself and relaxed the training schedule a bit. Other than running a few kilometres a day, my only other form of fitness is coming from surfing.

I’m having a great time getting on the board and the surf has been good up here on the Gold Coast of late. I went out to Snapper Rocks this morning and had a good session before heading to work.

Hopefully practice will make perfect for my trip to G Land in May – looking forward to it.

The Aussie team has just been announced for the Lifesaving World Titles in Germany and I wasn’t named.

I’m not too disappointed as I have been on the team plenty of times before, but I do wonder what the selectors’ agenda was. They selected six males and six females for the championships which consist of ten pool events and ten surf events and Shannon Eckstein is the only ironman selected.

It seems they have gone for a lot of pool based guys and there are some names on the squad I don’t even know.

I probably hurt my chances a bit by not attending the pool championships last week but I had a wedding to attend where I was one of the groomsmen. The wedding was great and it was one of my good mates tying the knot so I enjoyed it.

As I said I’m not too bothered by missing out on that team. The event I am really looking forward to is the International Challenge in South Africa next year, which can double as a chance to do some more surfing.

Speaking of surfing I really want to get the message across about some dangers you can face while you are out there.

When the weather is bad and visibility is poor there is a greater chance of shark attack. I feel so sorry for the family of the kid who was taken by a shark near Ballina and I hope people learn not to surf near river mouths because they are notorious for being areas where sharks inhabit.

Having said that I have been in the water most days of my life and only seen one shark.

Take care in the surf - Zane

I had a great week at the Australian titles and despite not winning the ironman I was pleased with my haul of four gold and one silver.
 
The silver was of course the ironman where Shannon Eckstein got one back on me by beating me in what turned out to be a thrilling head to head [...]