Hayley Bateup gives the thumbs up to eventual race points winner Naomi Flood during Round 3 in Portsea Victoria. Picture: Delly Carr / Sportshoot Source: Supplied
IRONWOMAN series leader Naomi Flood is too experienced to begin dreaming early about her second national crown.
Flood holds a 12-point advantage over Brodie Moir heading into today's fourth round of the Telstra IronWoman Series at Surfers Paradise. At the halfway mark of the competition she has not missed a podium.
But the 26-year-old only has to look back two years to see how quickly a consistent season can be ruined. Elizabeth Pluimers won four of the five rounds in 2011 but was let down by one shocking result at Portsea.
Courtney Hancock won the title that year but fell victim to a similar mishap last season due to a poor round at Newcastle. "People have lost series with one bad round," Flood said. "I don't think you can win a series with one round but you can lose one."
Flood (256 points), Moir (244) and Hancock (232) are this summer's pacesetters after opening a big gap over the rest of the field. Rebecca Creedy and Candice Falzon lead the chase pack but may have left their runs too late. "I'm trying not to think about (the standings)," said Flood, who represents the Manly club.
"I've been in this situation before and it's easy for something to go wrong."
Today's round at the Gold Coast marks the first appearance this season of the endurance format. Local hope Shannon Eckstein leads the Kellogg's IronMan Series ahead of Mooloolaba clubmates Ali Day and Matt Poole. Kurrawa veteran Ky Hurst's slow start has him in fifth after three rounds.
He needs the conditions to suit him, and that means only one thing. "All I'm asking for is big waves," he said. "That's what makes our sport. "If it's flat, it's not as interesting. "The first two rounds for me were a little shaky but things started to flow for me a bit at Portsea. "The next three weeks will be huge, really important. "To go back-to-back-to-back will be really difficult."
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