Kiwi Ironmen fail to qualify for pro series

Top New Zealand Ironmen and Ironwoman trialing this weekend in Australia for a place in the lucrative A$300,000 (NZ$380,000) Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Ironman Series will now need to rely on wildcard spots to make the series.

NZ Surf Ironman Champion Daniel Moodie was a shock omission from today’s final after 10th and 11th placings in yesterday’s qualifying heats wasn’t enough to challenge for one of eight spots available.

Moodie wasn’t searching for excuses for his below-par performance, although the longer runs introduced this year caught him out.

“The beach runs between water legs were huge, nothing like I had expected or trained for,” said Moodie

“I’m not a huge fan of running as it is, but to have not trained for them was probably my downfall. I felt really good in the water legs.”

The longer races, up to 45 minutes long, were also out of the scope of his training for Rescue 2010 (the world championships) in Egypt in a fortnight where he will challenge for the world title. The Ironman races at the international level are over the traditional shorter sprint distances, which has been the main focus of his training.

“To be honest my training has been focusing on Rescue 2010. We’ve had a number of NZ Team training camps lately which I’ve been using to gauge my preparation and I’m on track,” said Moodie

“The trial has come at a time when I’m more prepared for the shorter distance, I’m not conditioned for these longer races just yet, but there’s no reason why I couldn’t be, it’s just hasn’t been the focus.”

Fellow NZ Ironmen Mike Janes and Chris Moors were in today’s final but finished out of the top 8 places needed to get automatic qualification.

For Janes it was the second Series trial he had raced and missed out and this was the closest he had come to qualifying.

“I raced and felt really good yesterday, but I had a run of bad luck in today’s final,” said Janes.

“In the ski leg I got caught up in a bit of chaos when guys were falling off their skis in the shore break, and then I rolled my ankle in the start to the final swim leg, it just wasn’t to be.

Moors was left ruing what could have been in his first attempt at a Series spot.

“I was stoked to just have made it to the final, I’m feeling as fit as I’ve ever been so thought I’d give it a crack,” said Moors.

“At this level you need to bring your A-game to every race, I raced well yesterday but just couldn’t bring it together today. It’s a great experience though, and gives me a lot of confidence for the future.”

Both Janes and Moors are also in the middle of their grueling training regime for the Coolangatta Gold on 7 November, a 46km Ironman marathon touted as one of the toughest multisport races in the world.

Ironwoman Madison Boon started her weekend strong with a 6th place finish in the first heat but wasn’t able to replicate it in the 2nd heat finishing 15th ultimately putting her out of contention for the final today.

In similar circumstances to last year, Boon was within one point of making it through and finished one place out of the qualifiers.

“It’s never easy, but I do it to myself,” said Boon.

“I started off really well yesterday which I was happy with because I normally start slow, so with that monkey off my back I was ready to challenge. But some unlucky conditions and a couple of little mistakes put it out of reach.”

Fellow NZ Ironwoman Amiee Berridge and Ironman Daniel Nelson also trialed in yesterday’s heats but did not qualify for the trial final today.

The New Zealand athletes along with NZ Ironwoman Champion Nikki Cox are now looking at lodging wildcard applications to try and secure one of six additional spots available.

Places will be tight for the Ironmen with previous Series and world champion Zane Holmes, Coolangatta Gold Champion Caine Eckstein and Australian Champion Pierce Leonard almost guaranteed a spot. While in the Ironwoman Tara Coleman, Flora Manciet and Allira Richardson are well placed for a wildcard.

Wildcard places will be announced on October 4.

Qualifiers from today’s trial:
Ironman (8): Matt Poole, Wes Berg, Dylan Newbiggin, Alex Tibbits, Sam Hamilton, Josh Minogue, Mitch Miller, Mark Simpson
Ironwoman (10): B Hancock, H Brown, G Newbiggin, A Nurthen, R Creedy, B Moir, M Davies, J Mercer, A Bennett, T Sullivan.

Already confirmed:
Ironman (6): Shannon Eckstein, Hugh Dougherty, Ky Hurst, Rhys Drury, Corey Jones and Ali Day.
Ironwoman (4): Alicia Marriott, Liz Pluimers, Kristyl Smith and Courtney Hancock. Naomi Flood (kayaking commitments) and Hayley Bateup (shoulder surgery) have withdrawn from the Series although Bateup will receive an injury wildcard to race if she returns before the season’s end.