Return of the great

IRONMAN great Shannon Eckstein has silenced his critics to score his 35th career ironman event win at Fairhaven Beach.

Doubters had begun to call time on Eckstein’s illustrious ironman career following his eighth at Coolum and 14th placing at North Wollongong prior to Christmas.

But it was his mum that made sure Eckstein returned in the New Year with a refocused determination to prove he could still match it with the rising stars of the sport.

“My mum came down to Wollongong and watched and after that I thought, ‘I might just go to the Magic Millions and not go to Torquay’,” the avid horse racing fan said.

“But she said, ‘No, Shannon. The next four weeks, get yourself fit, get your ankle right and really stick it right up them.’

“Mum never talks like that and I think she got a bit of a feeling at Wollongong on the beach that, ‘Everyone think’s Shannon’s gone and he doesn’t really care anymore’.”

The six-time Australian and five-time world ironman champion admitted to falling out of love with the sport, which had varied the formats of events in recent seasons.

He exampled the seriesopening round at Queenscliff which featured a “10-minute race”.

“This isn’t what I grew up on TV wanting to be a part of,” he said.

“It’s just a different year and I wasn’t sure I was into the different formats.”

But a return to the more traditional three-disciplined event suited the eight-time Nutri-Grain Series winner, who held off current series leader Alastair Day in second.

“It’s been a long time between win, probably the longest in my career, so it’s nice to be back up the top,” he said.

“I won a race at Ocean Grove, probably 10 or 12 years ago, and we had world titles at Lorne in 2006 — I finished second to Zane (Holmes), so it’s been a long time between racing here.

“The Victorian public really like live sports, so we got a decent crowd down here to watch.”