Iron Series postponed by the tsunami threat
THE third round of the NutriGrain Ironman and Ironwoman Series from North Bondi was postponed on Sunday due to the tsunami alert that threatened the east coast.
Nutri-Grain Iron Series competition committee chairman Stephen Leahy told News Corp that after consultation with the Bureau of Meteorology and the NSW State Emergency Service the risk posed to athletes was too great to go ahead.
“It is very disappointing that we haven’t been able to
conduct today’s round,” Leahy said.
“We had all our contingencies in place to ensure the athletes were protected from Covid – unfortunately we weren’t anticipating a tsunami alert.
“The advice from both organisations was beaches were to remain closed indefinitely.
“When it became obvious beaches were unable to be opened until late this afternoon it became our only option (to postpone).”
Leahy said there was no decision yet on whether the third round would go ahead at a later date but it would come after careful consultation with athletes.
“We have to decide what that looks like,” he said.
“Obviously we have three rounds in a couple of weeks’ time on the Gold Coast (at Kurrawa). Whether or not there’s an opportunity to extend competition to include this round remains to be seen.
“We share the disappointment of the athletes, but remembering we’re a public safety organisation as our core business, this was the best decision to make.”
After two complete rounds, reigning series champion Ali Day sits on top of the Ironman standings with a perfect 40from-40 points.
He leads 2017-18 champion
Matt Bevilacqua (Northcliffe) by four points, followed by Newport’s Jackson Borg on 29.5 points.
It’s a two-way tie at the top of the Ironwoman leaderboard with Northcliffe’s Harriet Brown and two-time reigning champion Lana Rogers both on 39 points.
Brown’s clubmates Hannah Sculley (36 points) and Danielle McKenzie (32 points) sit at the head of the chasing pack.
The Nutri-Grain Ironman and Ironwoman Series heads to Kurrawa for rounds 4-6 beginning February 4.