SAVE OUR SPORT
Ironman great Eckstein fears iconic surf series is battling for survival
AUSTRALIA’S highest-profile surf stars Shannon Eckstein and Courtney Hancock fear for the future of professional ironman racing and say changes must be made if the iconic sport is to survive and thrive.
Once a summer staple in living rooms across the country, the NutriGrain ironman series will be held over just three days at North Cronulla from tomorrow in an event that is likely to be a minor blip on the radar, despite Eckstein bidding for an unprecedented 10th title.
Eckstein and three-time champion Hancock – arguably the highest-profile surf lifesavers in the country – have called for a series overhaul to prevent it from disappearing from the sporting landscape even though racing will return to live TV on Fox Sports this weekend.
“If we don’t start progressing each year from here, the sport’s got nowhere to go,’’ Eckstein said.
“It is (disappointing what’s happened to the series this season),” Eckstein said. “As a professional ironman, you want to race as much as you can and you want to be on TV as much as you can.
“Unfortunately that’s the position we’re in at the moment.’’
The elite Nutri-Grain series had been reduced from six stand-alone rounds to six rounds over three weekends over the past few years in a move that already had athletes fearing for the future of the sport.
But with this year’s series to be held over just three days this weekend, ironman is in danger of becoming irrelevant as other sports continue to grow and thrive.
Surf Life Saving Australia has taken over the series this season from Nutri-Grain, the cereal giant moving away from event management, although continuing its long-running sponsorship of the sport.
There are hopes the threeday event, which has been marketed as a “finals series’’ following the successful Summer of Surf concept, can grow again with this year’s reduced format only a one-off.
But with athletes having to pay their own way to the event and the bottom eight competitors in the 20-man field earning only between $750-$1250 for a season’s toil, the sport is in danger of losing its appeal.
Hancock and Eckstein say renewed growth is crucial if the sport is to survive.
“Something has to happen after this series, whether it be a few of the athletes just coming together and having a chat,’’ Hancock said.
“But the talk’s going to have to start happening straight after this series.
“It’s too much of an amazing sport to let it go.”
It’s not all bad news for the sport, which will have live television coverage on Fox Sports on Saturday and Sunday.
“Live TV is a big bonus, we haven’t been live on TV for almost five years now,’’ said Eckstein, who has also encouraged organisers to follow the lead of other sports and come up with an innovative format to win back the fans. “That’s a big step forward and you hope to get things right and progress each year from here.