1. 18 SPORT SURF LIFESAVING 2018 COMMONWEALTH GAMES HOST CITY MONDAY DECEMBER 1 2014 GOLDCOASTBULLETIN.COM.AU
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Electrifying start has Pluimers looking good
AFTER two wins in the open-
ing rounds of the Nutri-Grain
Ironwoman series Liz Pluimers
feels just as confident as she
did when she took out the title
in 2011-12.
The North Burleigh surf
lifesaver said she thought win-
ning the first two rounds of
2013 helped to set up the sea-
son for reigning series champi-
on Courtney Hancock.
Now Pluimers hopes she
can replicate the same blister-
ing form from the weekend
when the ironwomen meet at
Surfers Paradise this month.
“She ended up winning the
series overall with a great start
to set her up so I’m hoping that
will be the same for me this
year,” she said.
“I guess rounds one and two
sort of show who’s at the top of
their game and who’s not quite
up there.
“I’ve got that confidence
leading into rounds three and
four now.”
The Coolangatta Gold
champion, 27, was unsure how
participating in the Gold early
last month would affect her
start to the series but said she
could not be happier with her
performance in Western Aus-
tralia on the weekend.
Hancock said she was still
happy with her performance
despite finishing seventh yes-
terday.
“Today I was right in there
and I really put myself in a pos-
ition to get in,” she said.
“I’m pretty experienced and
I know what I have to do so for
me at the moment I’m really
focusing on myself.”
The series resumes at Sur-
fers Paradise on December
20-21.
CLASS ABOVE: Liz Pluimers powering through the water on her
ski at Smiths Beach yesterday. Picture: SPORTSHOOT
Siblings
having
Eck of
a time
A PAIR of split shorts, flat surf
and a recurring bicep injury
made life difficult for the Eck-
stein brothers at the weekend.
But despite their lacklustre
start to the Nutri-Grain Series,
the pair yesterday vowed to
bounce back on the Gold Coast
in Rounds 3 and 4 this month.
Reigning champion Shan-
non split his shorts on the way
to an eighth-place finish on
Saturday and was forced to
wear his pocket-rocket broth-
er’s kit in winning Round 2
yesterday.
Meanwhile, Caine was
forced to pull out midway
through Round 1 with the
same bicep injury suffered
while setting a chin-ups world
record, and which forced him
out mid-race during the Cool-
angatta Gold last month.
“I don’t think it’s healed
completely,” he said.
Caine said he and his broth-
er had been sick with the flu
throughout the week and ad-
mitted it probably did not help
their chances at Smiths Beach.
“I think he was just coming
off the back of it and I got it,”
he said. “I woke up feeling like
death pretty much.
“You can feel it in your
muscles. It definitely didn’t
help me with my arm, I was
pretty much in the wars.”
The 29-year-old will reass-
ess the bicep injury this week
and hopes it does not force him
to miss the Gold Coast leg of
the Ironman Series.
“I’ve been training in surf
for the last couple of weeks and
in the surf there’s a little bit
more skill involved and you
can get through that,” he said.
“It was so windy and all the
runs with the ski and that
didn’t help. Hopefully, when
Surfers comes around, I’ll be
able to race there.
“I missed today to give my-
self a chance to come back for
Rounds 3 and 4.”
Five-time World Ironman
Champion Shannon hinted on
Saturday that he might have
suffered from a virus but yes-
terday brushed off the sugges-
tion that he was sick.
“I was b-----ed, it’s just that
running – the running hurts,”
he said.
He said after training for
flat conditions and winning at
the world titles recently, he
was sick of racing without any
surf and admitted this played a
part in his result on Saturday.
“You look at Kelly Slater –
when the surf’s crap when he
goes to Brazil he loses because
it doesn’t excite him any more
but when it’s Fiji he’ll win,” he
said. “I kind of relate to that.
But you’ve got to mentally get
yourself up.
“Last night I mentally felt
like I want to win this series, I
want to get some points back.”
Full results, P26
JACK HARBOUR
JACK HARBOUR
ALL IN A DAY’S WORK: Ali Day catches a wave on his way to second place yesterday and (inset) competitors “put out a bat” for Phillip Hughes. Pictures: SPORTSHOOT
Young guns on fire
DISMAL starts to the season
for series favourites Shannon
Eckstein and Courtney Han-
cock have left the door wide
open to the sport’s young
guns ahead of Round 3 at Sur-
fers Paradise.
Both reigning champions
are now the hunters ahead
of their home races in
three weeks but did just
enough at the weekend
to ensure they’re still
in contention to go
back to back.
E i g h t - t i m e
Nutri-Grain Iron-
man champion
Eckstein clawed his way back
with a Round 2 win yesterday
after making life difficult for
himself with an eighth-place
finish on Saturday.
Eckstein said Ali Day, who
won the first round before fin-
ishing runner-up yesterday,
was his biggest competition
heading to the Gold Coast.
“Eighth is still a really bad
result. To win a se-
ries with an
eighth you’ve
got to be
pretty lucky
so I’ve just
got to win and stay in front of
Ali,” he said.
“I can still beat him. It’s
Ali’s to lose.”
The ironman legend said
he dreaded the flat surf at
Western Australia’s Smiths
Beach and was not prepared
to “hurt” on day one.
Eckstein said he even con-
sidered retirement after
Round 1 before snapping out
of the disappointment.
After talking to his family
on Saturday night, Eckstein
bounced back masterfully
yesterday to get the narrow
lead over Day in the sprint
finish that sealed his win.
“I don’t get up and train to
race in the flat but that’s the
way it is,” he said.
“You can’t control Mother
Nature so you’ve got to try
and win every one.
“When it’s 10-foot surf I
can’t wait to race but this is
completely the opposite.
“Obviously my family are
going to be at the Gold
Coast, at Newcastle so you
don’t want it all to be over by
then.
“You’ve just got to be
prepared to hurt like I was
today. Yesterday (Satur-
day) I probably wasn’t.”
Sunshine Coast
wildcard Day made a
stunning comeback
after taking a year
off with fatigue
and a liver complaint. He was
the first to comfort Eckstein
as he fell flat on the sand after
crossing the finish line yester-
day.
Day said he knew on Sat-
urday afternoon that his idol
would bounce back.
“I was like ‘are you all right
Shannon?’ He kind of had his
eyes closed and he nodded,”
he said.
“I think he was just busted,
he was tired but I was a bit
worried about him.
“I’ve watched him for so
long now and I idolise the guy
– it’s not just in the water but
out of the water.”
A strong swim leg in the
dying minutes of the final
brought Ky Hurst into po-
dium contention before he
eventually crossed third.
Day says regardless of his
own dominance throughout
the weekend at Smiths Beach,
he still regards Hurst and
Eckstein as the main con-
tenders for the series title.
Yesterday morning, Han-
cock failed to make the final
after a rough finish in the sec-
ond eliminator.
With a second place on
Saturday and a seventh yes-
terday, Hancock admitted it
was one of her worst perform-
ances of the past few years.
Yet, the three-time Nutri-
Grain series champion said
the mark of her dominance
will be if she can recover and
win another title this season.
“Every athlete has their
day and I think today was an
off day for me,” she said.
“I’m not going to go home
and cry about it.
“That’s the kind of athlete
I am.
“I guess it was a bit of a
shock for me where I came
today.”
JACK HARBOUR
SMITHS BEACH