Kellogg Australia and Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA) today announced five wildcard recipients for the 2013/14 Nutri-Grain IronMan and IronWoman Series, bringing the total qualifying field to sixteen for each event. IronMen Caine Eckstein, Hayden White and Cameron Cole along with IronWomen Hannah Minogue and Emma Dick, will join pre-qualified athletes and the top-four finishers from last weekend’s Salt Beach trials in the prestigious 2013/14 Nutri-Grain Series.

The wildcards were awarded after Kellogg and SLSA issued an additional two wildcards for the IronMan and IronWoman series based on the athletes’ impressive performance at the trials. The fifth wildcard was included after top ten qualifying athlete Hugh Dougherty was forced to retire due to injury.

“The policy is to award wildcards in extenuating circumstances, and after reviewing the athletes’ performance at the recent trials we made the decision to award five wildcard entries in total this year” said SLSA Surf Sports Manager Nathan Hight.

Kellogg Australia Marketing Manager Ian Blackhall said organisers were impressed by the standard of the athletes competing at the Trials, which included two former Nutri-Grain Series Winners, multiple Australian IronWoman & IronMan Champions, multiple Coolangatta Gold Winners, the current Australian IronMan Champion and Female Under 19 Australian IronWoman Champions.

“The talent of athletes at the Trial was at an all-time high and the future of the sport looks healthy. We want to encourage, nurture and support the athletes in this sport and are looking forward to announcing a new and more robust qualifying process in the coming weeks,” said Blackhall.

Qualifying Process 2014/15

The qualifying process for the 2014/15 Nutri-Grain Series is under review by a recently appointed Athlete Advisory Panel, chaired by Contest Director Zane Holmes. Organisers are developing a program that will see a fully sanctioned Qualifying Series in place for this summer, running in conjunction with automatic pre-qualification from the Nutri-Grain Series and a Trial prior to the commencement of next season. Details will be announced in coming weeks.

 

The full field for the 2013/14 IronMan and IronWoman Series is:

IRONMAN SERIES QUALIFIERS

Automatic qualifiers

1 Shannon Eckstein

2 Kendrick Louis

3 Ali Day

4 Matt Poole

5 Ky Hurst

6 Wes Berg

7 Tom Trembath

8 Mitchell Miller

9 Joshua Minogue

Trial Qualifiers

10 Nathan Smith

11 Tanyn Lyndon

12 Matthew Bevilacqua

13 Dane Farrell

Wildcards

14 Caine Eckstein

15 Hayden White

16 Cameron Cole

IRONWOMAN SERIES QUALIFIERS

Automatic qualifiers

1 Courtney Hancock

2 Maddy Dunn

3 Brodie Moir

4 Jordan Mercer

5 Rebecca Creedy

6 Harriet Brown

7 Hayley Bateup

8 Amy Nurthen

9 Bonnie Hancock

10 Alyssa Bull

Trial Qualifiers

11 Kristyl Smith

12 Elizabeth Pluimers

13 Devon Halligan

14 Alyce Bennett

Wildcards

15 Hannah Minogue

16 Emma Dick

It is an exciting time for the sport with the announcement last week that the Nutri-Grain Series will be broadcast on Channel Nine, the home of sport, and also the inclusion of Deep Water, a new reality-style TV show.