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Shannon Eckstein won his eighth Australian surf ironman title in style on Sunday by taking out the final round of the series at Coolum on the Sunshine Coast.
In the women’s, Courtney Hancock claimed her third title in four years after finishing third behind race winner Maddy Dunn and Harriet Brown.
Eckstein led the entire race as choppy two-metre swells caused havoc for competitors.
Eckstein said there was no way he was going to let his lead slip to second-placed Ky Hurst and third-placed Matt Bevilacqua.
“I led the swim leg and got a wave in and it turned out that daylight was kind of second,” he said.
“I never panicked out there today and stayed in control and picked my spots and picked my lines.
“In this sport, if you believe in yourself, it usually turns out that you will do well.”
Eckstein only had to finish Sunday’s race to claim another title.
The 30-year-old said he didn’t know how long he could continue in the sport, but admitted 10 series titles sounded pretty good.
“Kelly Slater has got 11 world titles, so there’s a goal there …” he said.
“Obviously, I’m still chasing one more Australian title to equal Trevor Hendy who was my idol growing up.”
Hancock did well just to make the final in a reduced two-race format after being pummelled on the ski.
She hit the final swim leg in 13th position before jagging the tenth and last place to just scrape into the decider.
Missing out would have opened the door for Liz Pluimers – second overall heading into the race – to claim the series.
“I heard that I was one minute-20 behind (in the swim) and I thought ‘what the hell? I can catch that’,” she said.
“In this sport and in any sport, you never give up until the end so I just put my head down and went as hard as I could.
“For me, winning this feels like my greatest achievement, to get through the way I did.”
Dunn said luck had a lot to do with her win.
“It was a bit of everything out there and you were either lucky or unlucky.
“Coming back and winning in my home town means a lot.”
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