Kiwi's ironman chances end up in the drink
Monday 20 December 2010, 7:25AM
By Surf Life Saving New Zealand
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Mike Janes' steep learning curve continued in the latest round of the Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Surf Ironman Series at Coolum on the Sunshine Coast, with the top Kiwi surf lifesaver finishing 17th.
Janes was in a promising position midway through the two-hour endurance race, the third leg of the series, but a fuel stop cost him dearly.
"I was going great guns for the first two legs, comfortably sitting inside the top-ten but had a drink coming through into one of the long runs and got the stitch in a bad way," Janes, who is in his debut season in the series, said. "I was nearly down to a walk and it took my until the next ski leg before I could get over it and dropped a lot of placings."
The race was won by perenial runner-up Hugh Dougherty, who finally broke through for his maiden victory in the series and took the overall lead at the same time, while Liz Pluimers continued her golden summer with a third straight win.
With flat surf and constant rain, Janes admits he struggled getting his nutrition right but is looking forward to the fourth round of the series in Portsea in Victoria, where cooler conditions should mirror what he's used to in his New Zealand bases of Tauranga and Gisborne.
"It's all a learning curve for me this year but bring on Portsea - hopefully they'll get some decent waves down there as well. My speed's there and my fitness is good but now I've just got to switch on and fire up and get the little details right in my next race."
The day belonged to Dougherty, who was second overall in last summer’s series, second in five of the last seven ironman series races and also second at this year’s world championships
The 27-year-old reached the halfway point 35secs ahead and held it superbly, finishing ahead of Caine Eckstein with Corey Jones 23 seconds further back in third.
Dougherty leads the series on 56 points from defending champion Shannon Eckstein (fourth today) on 52 and last start winner Matt Poole and Caine Eckstein (both 49). Poole had suffered from a respiratory complaint all week and finished tenth today, collapsing after crossing the line.
"I’ve had so many seconds and I’ve been so close so many times, trying so hard and finally getting it was amazing and hopefully I get a bit of a roll on," Dougherty said.
“I gave it my all, and I’m glad we didn’t have to do another leg because that run leg at the end – I know I had a bit of a gap that I had to hold on to but I knew Caine was coming closer and I didn’t have anything left.”
Pluimers led the ironwoman race from the start to draw away and win comfortably by 50 metres from a determined Courtney Hancock, with Tara Coleman producing the race of her life to claim third, 100m further back.
Coleman, the only woman in the series from Sydney, won a sprint to the line with 18-year-old Central Coaster Amy Nurthen – both scoring their best results as professionals.
The win gives Pluimers a perfect 60 points in the overall point score to lead Hancock by five points with defending series champion Alicia Marriott (sixth today) a further five points adrift in third.