What happened to the sport of Ironman and its cereal stars? We all know the sport – sluggos, Trevor Hendy, Kellogg’s versus Uncle Tobys and, of course, who can forget Baywatch!
A recent article in The Daily Telegraph to Ironman of the surf variety.
The article talks of a well known (some would say celebrity) Ironwoman, Candice Falzon, pleading with event organisers to give her a wildcard place in this year’s Kelloggs Nutri-Grain Ironman series after she missed the recent trial.
I’m going to declare my hand at this point: I am set to race in the series.
Furthermore, my sister was the first to miss out on an automatic place in the series trial, putting her in prime position to collect the wildcard position to be handed out. As a result, she was in direct competition with the subject of today’s article.
I am not going to attack Candice for having an article in one of the largest newspaper in Australia asking for the chance to race; in fact, I would do the exact same thing if I could.
Rather, I would like to ask the question of why this is the biggest news story in our sport this week?
Has our sport descended to the point where the celebrity aspect is the only worthy material in our small bubble of sporting excellence?
No mention of surf legend Nathan Smith making a return to the professional ranks, only to be matched by his sister Kristyl in a return that would make any family proud.
Barely a line about the champion Liz Plumiers on the comeback trail.
One small article in a regional paper about series contender Matt Poole breaking his leg and simultaneously almost ending his season.
And only a small column that series organisers have pulled off an incredible coup by getting 14 weeks of surf ironman on Channel Nine this summer.
Just an article about the most famous person in the series wanting a free ride in.
Now I will admit, this isn’t the ‘90s. Surf Ironman isn’t as popular as it once was and may ever be again.
But I will tell you what it is not: Dead.
Go and have a look at any Queensland beach on a Sunday morning and the hundreds of nippers running around in sluggos and skull caps.
This sport isn’t boring: Google ‘2013 Ironman series Surfers Paradise’ and watch some of the carnage.
And this sport is underrated commercially: more children are involved in nippers than both rugby league and AFL. Think about that.
It’s a long road back to the glory days for Surf Life Saving and Ironman racing; we really need to let the recent past go and move forward together or this might really be the last wave of summer.
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