New territory for Ironman superstar
BEWARE
GOAT.
He may have lost his past two major ironman races but don’t think for a minute that Shannon Eckstein is past it.
Eckstein – the man widely regarded as ironman racing’s greatest of all time (GOAT) – heads into this weekend’s opening round of the NutriGrain series in arguably the best shape of his career as he searches for a record 10th ironman title.
But he will toe the line at Queenscliff Beach tomorrow in unfamiliar territory, without a major domestic title to his name in the past 12 months.
The Australian ironman title sits vacant after the national championships were abandoned in the aftermath of ex Tropical Cyclone Debbie and Eckstein was beaten in a sprint finish by Matt Poole in the Nutri-Grain series last summer before Ali Day had the better of him in the Coolangatta Gold earlier this month.
“The last two races – the Gold and the series last year – I finished second in both but they’re probably two of the most courageous performances I’ve done,” Eckstein said.
“Six weeks out form the Gold I could have pulled the the wounded pin and not done it but I didn’t care about ego or coming second, I put my foot on the line and had a go.
“And the same with the series. Having ripped my toe apart and having stitches in hospital and having to get some injections just to race, I could have not raced Saturday and Sunday and just said to myself: ‘I won the series last year I’m not going to risk being beaten’.
“But I’m proud of putting my foot on the line.
“This year, there’s six race, I’ve got no excuses, I’m ready to go and stay in front of the younger boys again.”
Series champion Matt Poole believes his breakthrough win against Eckstein last summer will give belief to a generation of younger athletes looking to make their series breakthrough and the Northcliffe veteran knows he will have plenty of challengers snapping at his heels.
“They wake up thinking about these ironman races and I’ve got to get my mentality to be the same as theirs because having done it for so long, you can lose that,” Eckstein said.
“But I’ve just got to play the mental game and get myself ready to race.
“Physically I know I can do it, it’s just mentally, you’ve got to get yourself up every time.”