POOLE PUMPED

The snub that ignited ironman star’s career

TURNING down a NutriGrain Ironman Series wildcard in 2010 has been the making of Matt Poole.

Then an under-17 Aussies ironman champion, Poole burst on to the Nutri-Grain scene in 2008 and finished third in the series a year later.

But the expectations of elite sport soon caught up with Poole who battled form and inconsistency to miss out on automatic qualification for the 2009-10 season, leading organisers to grant him automatic entry into the following summer’s competition.

“I was in a completely different time and place in my career,” said Poole, now 31.

“I had shown good early form but I didn’t have the right mindset or attitude at training. I always wanted to win the series but I didn’t see the point in being gifted a wildcard because I wasn’t good enough.”

Poole’s decision paid dividends, with a renewed thirst for success paving the way for him to qualify via a trial and finish second overall in the following series, one point behind Shannon Eckstein.

“It was definitely the making of me and my belief I could win a series,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve finished outside the top five since.

“I got all the pieces in place to deliver.”

Poole is an outside chance to claim his second series title on Sunday at North Cronulla just a few weeks after bravely battling through a golden staph infection to compete in Round 4 at Surfers Paradise.

Back-to-back operations saw substantial scar tissue removed from the Kurrawa clubbie’s knee, the scar since healing but the surgery leaving ongoing pain.

“It’s not too comfortable now on the board so it’s been a challenge getting back but I’m going into this round a lot better than Surfers Paradise,” he said.

“Physically it was a lot to take on with the surgery and the pain of it all but people don’t take into account the mental side of it.

“All I want is to be able to race at 100 per cent and that was taken out of my control which was super frustrating.”

Standing between Poole and the series title is the Survival Round which consists of three separate 12-minute iron races, with the last six finishers in each race eliminated until eight are left in the final race.

To win, Poole will need to make at least Round 2 and hope his rivals falter early.

“I’m close but at the same time I’m not as close as I’d like to be,” he said.