Champ eyeing future

IRONMAN great Shannon Eckstein has given the greatest hint yet this will be his final year in the sport, saying Sunday’s Nutri-Grain ironman series race at Surfers Paradise could be his last on the Gold Coast.

Eckstein will work with sponsors Villa World during the off-season, with an opportunity existing for the surf sports icon to join the residential property developers in a long-term role.

And it’s an option Eckstein is seriously considering, as he enters the twilight of his decorated career.

He will finish the current Nutri-Grain series, as well as race the state and Australian titles this season, but November’s world championships loom as his competitive swan song, with the 34-year-old not yet committed to another season in the elite series.

That makes Sunday’s race at Surfers Paradise – Eckstein’s junior club – likely his last on the Gold Coast.

“I’d say it’s 50-50 (whether I’ll go on). I’d wait for Aussies to make a decision but it’d take a big change in what the series looks like for me to go on,” he said.

“The world titles are in November in Adelaide, so it could be an option to go on until then but there’s not much left on the Gold Coast after this weekend.”

The winner of nine NutriGrain series, eight Australian ironman titles and six world championships, Eckstein is widely regarded as the greatest

ironman of all time. But he has admitted frustration with the series format this year and with his motivation fluctuating and the sport struggling to sustain an elite professional competition, he is looking to the future.

“I’ve won 34 Kellogg’s races and (the next best) is two, so it is a bit surreal but I think when you start looking back and counting your wins, it could be time to give up because you’re not looking forward to the next one,” Eckstein said.

“(The sport) is not what it was when I was growing up. It’s hard to cry poor, it’s been good to me for so long. But a race win now is 80 per cent less than what it was when I first won a series, that’s a big drop.”

Given that, the opportunity to build a career with a Gold Coast business is an enticing option for Eckstein.

“Villa World have been really good to me and while you’ve got the opportunity to step into a role there and there’s an opportunity to make a career at a really good Gold Coast company, it’s hard to knock that back,” he said.