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Next time your kid complains about a short trek to the surf, pulling on a wet wetsuit or waking up for an early, you will be able to silence their whinging with a single name –Teal Haigh
Teal lives on a 50-acre property near Bowraville on the North Coast of NSW. Her mum runs a flower farm, which requires attention soon after sun-up while her dad starts work at 6:am. Getting a surf in before school means Teal has to wake up at 5 am so her mum can drive her 20 minutes to a Macksville bus, which drops her off at Nambucca Heads. From there it’s a 2km run to the beach. Between 6:50 and 8:20 Teal strives to catch as many good waves as she can, before completing the final leg of her morning triathlon – a 5km back-road dash to school with a board and dripping wetsuit. “I do my best to get there on time,” she points out.
Formerly a state-level distance runner, Teal has now turned her full attention to surfing. She recently competed in her first major event, The Rip Curl Grom Search at Newcastle where she made the quarterfinals.
