By Josh Minogue
With one
round to go six men still have a mathematical chance of winning the Nutri-Grain
Ironman Series, as they head into “Survival” at North Cronulla on January 19th.
Two men have a good chance,
two men will need to have their best day and a few results to go their way;
while two have just a hope, needing almost a perfect set of circumstances to
take the title.
But if you’ve got a spot, you’ve got a shot.
Who wins the Nutri-Grain Ironman series? Your guess is as good as mine, but there is one thing I am certain of, whoever gets it done, is going to deserve it, because the other 19 men aren’t going down without a fight.
The overall series point score will be determined by the best results in four of the five races which are combined to ascertain the final overall series winner.
The format
“Survival” is certainly the toughest format you can do in Ironman racing and when there is cash, points and the overall Nutri-Grain Ironman Series title on the line, it makes for an exciting and pressure packed hour of racing.
The men and women will face three races each; after each race the bottom six will be eliminated. From 20 to 14, then the eight best will go head to head with first across the line taking the round and maximum points.
The men’s contenders
While six can mathematically win the overall Nutri-Grain Ironman Series Title, realistically it’ll come down to just 4 men – Tanyn Lyndon, Kendrick Louis, Matt Poole & Ben Carberry – it would be remis of me not to mention Jy Timperly and Matt Bevilacqua who are close enough but will need a lot of luck to go their way.
Tanyn
Lyndon – Sits
second on the ladder with 56 points BUT has only raced 3 rounds this season
(after sitting out the Coolangatta Gold) meaning he is one of very few title
contenders who is guaranteed to add points to his tally in round 5.
If he wins or finish’s second
the title is his; after that he needs to finish one place behind Kendrick or
three places behind Poole & Carberry (if they improve on their worst
results).
He is having the year of his
life, but up until now hasn’t had any expectation on him in terms of the
overall title. He is the man most likely to win overall but there is still a
hell of a lot of racing to go between now and then.
Kendrick
Louis – Currently
leads the overall series on 65 points. His worst result is a tenth so if he
makes race 3 he will improve on the point-score.
He has built his way into this
season while flying under the radar, he’s very experienced at this format and
after coming so close for so long, could this be the year the man from Manly is
the king of Ironman?
Matt
Poole – Dropped
from 1st to 3rd on the ladder after his courageous Surfers
Paradise 16th place finish, that potentially derailed his title hopes.
With his 55 points, as long as he makes race two, he will improve, but will
need his rivals to falter early to take the title.
Has had a second surgery on his knee and some time to heal up, so he will be
better than last round. Also, he did win his only Nutri-Grain Series Crown on North
Cronulla beach in the final race of the Nutri-Grain Series in a sprint finish
with Shannon Eckstein (talk about a tough task).
He’s been in this situation before, but is the task too big this time?
Ben
Carberry – The
wildcard of the big four – the Currumbin beast only has three scoring results
to his name, after failing to finish the Coolangatta Gold, meaning he is
guaranteed to improve, but the question is, by how much??
Carberry will need at least a
top five finish and then to be far enough ahead of Lyndon, Louis and Poole to
be any chance of taking the title, but stranger things have happened.
He has form on the board at
North Cronulla as well, finishing 3rd here last summer and watch for
him to potentially be the man who causes a big upset come January 19th.
My Prediction.
I won’t predict a winner, but I think whoever wins race one will win the round, there is no holding back in survival.