Ironman’s drive to thrive
Bevilacqua aims high for Eckstein Classic
HE just won his second NutriGrain IronMan Series in five years, but Ironman Matt Bevilacqua will be riding his bike to the richest race in surf lifesaving on Friday.
Waiting on the arrival of his own car, Bevilacqua said he was hoping to drive home from the Shaw and Partners Shannon Eckstein Classic in one of the brand new Subaru XV’s on offer to winners.
The event will boast an impressive $240,000 cash prize pool, after a shark attack suspended the Manly Open Surf Carnival set for December, forcing it to be moved to Friday with the Shannon Eckstein Classic to run on Saturday.
The Summer of Surf event was called off after a group of bull sharks were seen attacking a dolphin at Shelly Beach in Manly, causing beaches in the area to be closed.
“I’m waiting on a car right now, so it would be good to drive away in a Subaru XV, that would be a bonus,” Bevilacqua said. “I rode the bike here this morning to flush out the legs from yesterday. I’ll be riding the bike down here this weekend, I basically live here at the surf club so I’ll ride down, warm up my legs up and get a bit of conditioning.”
Bevilacqua took out his second Series win since 2018 after edging out Ben Carberry in a thrilling race up the beach.
“It’s been a lot of hard years since my first win and they’re just so sweet, I’d kind of forgotten how good it is to just finish that series with zero regrets and get on top so it’s just a lifetime achievement.
“I always thought I owed it to myself the last five years to win another title, in 2017/18, I didn’t fluke it but I was half the Ironman I am now, so I thought I had to reward that effort.
“I’m really glad I can reward that and put my name up there again and cement myself with the past winners and really show that I’m building a legacy now.”
IronWoman Series winner and fellow Northcliffe athlete Georgia Miller said she was yet to begin her own celebrations as she looked towards the Shannon Eckstein Classic.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet, I don’t think it will for a little while, there’s just so much going on and so much to look forward to as well,” Miller said.
“I’m just trying to do the little things right at the moment; rest and recovery for the Shaw and Partners Shannon Eckstein Classic. It’s going to be a massive two days of racing and I’m looking to do not just the Ironwoman race, I’ll do a swim race and team events so it’s just going to be about how we recover and doing those one percenters right.”