I grew up by the beaches in Sydney and my two loves were surfing and surf club, and food. I joined Wanda Surf Club when I was seven and took part in races up until I was 22; every summer weekend was all about being down at the beach and being in the water. When we’d left the beach after surfing for the day, it was all about what I was going to eat. One day when I was about 11, my coach Jeff ‘Charlie’ Brown brought those two loves of mine together. Being totally aware of the incredible nerves I suffered before a race, he did something that completely distracted me: he said to me, ‘If you win this today, I will buy you a whole pecan pie that you don’t have to share with anyone else.’ Well, I was so determined to win that pie (not really the race) that I went out there . . . and won the pie. To this day I could eat a whole pecan pie if you gave it to me, and this golden syrup and chocolate pecan pie proved very hard to walk away from. — Kirsten