By Josh Minogue
It’s a Poole party.
With his win in Round 2 of the Nutri-Grain Series, it’s undeniable that Matt Poole becomes the overall Nutri-Grain Series favorite. I am not saying it’s over, but he conquered his demons in the Coolangatta Gold, and destroyed the myth that you can’t back up for the Nutri-Grain Series to win emphatically at Burleigh.
He is the oldest man in the series at 31 and looks to be in rare form taking his 8th Nutri-Grain Series Round win, will we see a repeat of his 2017 heroics? With a 6-point lead heading into round 3, the big fella is sitting pretty.
No drama Lana
Round two of the Nutri-Grain Series was double trouble for the Nutri-Grain Ironwoman Series field as Lana Rogers went back to back at Burleigh. She didn’t take control of the race until the final ski leg (her twelfth time through the break) and managed to surf a nice Burleigh righthander (that had us all holding our breath) to victory over Lizzie Welborn and Harriet Brown.
The way she went about the race showed how she’s matured and grown as an ironwoman racer, she hung in there and made almost no mistakes all race, then at the final turn she made it happen when it mattered most.
Step up or step out
You can’t hide this summer, this is the longest, hardest and most hotly contested Nutr-Grain Series we’ve seen for a while in both the men’s and women’s.
Maybe a few of our Ironmen are regretting skipping / DNF’ing the Coolangatta Gold, as it didn’t seem to hurt the likes of Poole, Louis, Timperley and Bevilacqua.
Some now find themselves with results in the teens that will count towards their overall Nutri-Grain Series points because they started the summer with a big zero in round one.
It’s called ironman…. It’s meant to be hard, and ironmen, are meant to be tough.
Experience isn’t everything, it’s the only thing
It was the old guard who came out on top in Round 2 of the Nutri-Grain Ironwoman Series; the top 6 has a combined 46 seasons at this level of ironwoman racing compared to the bottom 6 who have just 20 (and half of those belong to Jordan Mercer alone). Women like Harriet Brown had seen this format before, experienced just how tough it is and now how to handle the fatigue when the race heads out into the second half.
Enthusiasm got a few girls close to the front early in the race, but experience at this level decided the podium places.
It’s not what you know, it’s who you know
Have you ever heard the saying “all boats rise with the tide”? Well that’s what is happening with the Nutri-Grain Ironman Series, Tanyn Lyndon had what could be the best race of his career in a format nobody thought would suit him and I think it’s got a lot to do with having training partners Matt Bevilacqua and Matt Poole alongside him every day at the Kurrawa club. Those three have lifted their game this summer and it showed with a 1st, 2nd & 8th. Similarly, Ben Carberry, Jackson Maynard and Jy Timperley train together at Currumbin and finished up in 3rd and 6th…
I’m not saying you need to go to a super club to get it done, but having people to push you and hold you accountable certainly doesn’t hurt.
See Round 3 at Bulli, 2PM December 1st Live on Fox Sports and Kayo.