Taking back-to-back wins at this beach, he even had time to celebrate before the finish setting up a spectacular final IronMan race.
Tanyn Lyndon of Kurrawa continued his fantastic form to finish second, his third consecutive podium.
Kendrick Louis of Manly was close behind Lyndon in third, which continues his great summer following a second and fourth in the previous two races.
Taylor, a four time New Zealand Champion, started the specialist iron race with a five second lead in the handicap start. He was the top performer in the earlier separate four-minute races across the run, board, swim and ski. There was only three minutes recovery between the four races and five minutes before the iron race.
The 26-year-old ended up winning by around 30 seconds and could not stop smiling after his ‘grip and rip’ performance.
“Being able to finish a Nutri-Grain race and have time to stop and celebrate with your coach and your team around you is something you dream about, it was very special!” Taylor said.
“It feels awesome at the end of the year to do that – it has been an up and down year – we only had eight days after the World’s before the Coolangatta Gold and it just didn’t work so I just had to take some time off, re-set and build towards this and it has worked out so it is awesome to finish the year like this.”
The series is well and truly alive ahead of the final round next month at North Cronulla and it’s anyone’s guess who’ll be walking away with the Nutri-Grain IronMan Series title.
The desperation to claim points, and true IronMan determination, was demonstrated by Poole in sensational fashion. He was leading the Nutri-Grain IronMan series ahead of today’s racing and was released from hospital only 24 hours earlier, given the all clear to race by doctors and the SLSA medical team.
The 31-year-old underwent emergency surgery on Thursday due to a leg infection. He raced well earlier in the day before finishing a remarkable 16th in the final race.
Poole was disappointed to finish near the tail of the field but it was a truly gutsy performance.
“I just tried to stay positive and give myself every opportunity. It probably wasn’t the smartest decision to race today but I probably would have killed myself if I didn’t try at least.
“The crowd was really getting behind me today which was great to lift the spirits.”
The final round of the Nutri-Grain series will be held at North Cronulla on 19 January where the men will be chasing the series winner’s cheque of $25,000 AUD. Each athlete’s worst result is dropped from their final points tally.
Full results here.