The Iron Series (known as the Shaw and Partners Iron Series under

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...

) is a professional iron man and iron women racing series operated by

Surf Life Saving Australia Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA) is an Australian not-for-profit community organisation that promotes water safety and provides surf rescue services. SLSA strives to create a safe environment on Australia's beaches and coastline through patro ...

. It is best known for its time as the

Kellogg's Kellanova, formerly known as the Kellogg Company and commonly known as Kellogg's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, US. Kellanova produces and markets con ...

Nutri-Grain Nutri-Grain is a brand of breakfast cereal and breakfast bar made by Kellanova since 1976. In Australia and New Zealand Nutri-Grain is a breakfast cereal made from corn, oats, and wheat. The pieces are shaped like bricks. In the United States, ...

Ironman Series; the cereal company sponsored the event for almost 40 years. The series has over the years taken place over various locations, including: Smiths Beach in the Margaret River region of South West

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

; Newcastle Beach in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

;

North Cronulla Beach North Cronulla Beach or ''North Cronulla'' is a patrolled beach on Bate Bay, in Cronulla, Sydney New South Wales, Australia. ''The Wall'' is the local name given to the area between North Cronulla Beach and Elouera. ''The Alley'' is the local na ...

Cronulla Cronulla is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Boasting numerous surf beaches and swimming spots, the suburb attracts both tourists and Greater Sydney residents. Cronulla is 26 kilometres south of the Sydney central ...

;

Coolum Beach Coolum Beach is a beachside town and coastal suburb in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the suburb of Coolum Beach had a population of 9,152 people. Geography Coolum Beach has the following mountains (from north to s ...

on the

Sunshine Coast Sunshine Coast may refer to: * Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia **Sunshine Coast Region, a local government area of Queensland named after the region **Sunshine Coast Stadium * Sunshine Coast (British Columbia), geographic subregion of the Br ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

; and

Surfers Paradise Surfing is a list of surface water sports, surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in Glossary of surfing, tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wind wave, wave of water, whic ...

on the Gold Coast of

History

Professional ironman racing was born out of the movie ''

The Coolangatta Gold The Coolangatta Gold is one of the premier events in the sport of Ironman (surf lifesaving). The event is organised by Surf Life Saving Australia. The Event History In 1984, Peter Schrek was writing a movie featuring the talents of ironman ...

'' which featured multiple Australian Ironman champion

Grant Kenny Grant Hayden Kenny (born 14 June 1963) is an Australian former Ironman, surf lifesaver and canoeist. He won a bronze medal in the K-2 1000m event at the 1984 Summer Olympics. Career Kenny made headlines in 1980 when, as a 16-year-old, ...

and was won by Guy Leech. With significant media attention beginning to grow,

established the ‘Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Grand Prix’ in 1986. The aim of the series was to generate a high public profile and showcase for the sport, the athletes and the surf life saving movement.

Formats

The Iron Series is contested over a various race formats which help to create an even playing field for the competitors.

Loop Format

Description: A continuous race over a conventional Ironman course, swim, board, ski and run. Each 'Loop' consists of one lap of each discipline. A race may consist of three Loops for men and two loops for women, depending on conditions and the course. The order of the disciplines in the race will vary depending on the event.

M-Shape

Description: A continuous race over a modified course, where the competitors round 3 markers, two beyond the swell, and one on the beach. A race may consist of three loops for men and two for women, depending on conditions and the course.

Triple Sprint Pursuit

Description: Two conventional Ironman races with the combined points totals to determine handicap starting positions in a third race. The result of the third race determines the round placings. Introduced in Round 1 of the 2015/16 series at Coolum Beach.

Endurosurf

Endurosurf is a 40-minute Iron race over an M-Shaped or traditional course. Each of the disciplines of swim, board, ski will be completed two or three times, with competitors taking on the surf break again and again.

Super Sprint

The Super Sprint involves three separate, 10-minute races with 5-minutes rest between each race. Equal points are allocated for races 1 and 2 with double points being awarded for the final race.

The Specialist

The Specialist is four separate races, one for each discipline of swim, board, ski and run. There will be a 5-minute countdown between each race. At the conclusion of the four separate races, the final race will be conducted with a staggered start commencing from the finish arch. The athlete ranked 1st after the four Specialist races will start on ‘GO,’ with the remaining athletes then starting 2-seconds apart in sequential order in accordance to their ranking.

Eliminator

The Eliminator event, also known as the "Survival" event, involves three separate, 10-12 minute long Iron races where the last five to six finishers of each race are eliminated, leaving six to eight competitors to start the final race.

WaveCross

WaveCross is a 12-minute traditional iron-man race is held. The fastest 16 competitors qualify for the quarter-final stage. The quarter-finals feature four groups of four competitors each, the discipline order is swim-board-ski, and the top two from each group qualify for the semi-finals. The semi-finals feature two groups of four competitors each, the discipline order is board-ski-swim, and the top two from each group qualify for the final. The final features four competitors, and the discipline order is ski-swim-board. The format is based on the traditional course however single buoys may be utilised. In the event that the WaveCross format cannot be run due to weather or surf conditions, SLSA will advise of an alternative format.

Points

Since the 2011/12 series, the following points awarded for each competitor per round were as follows:

Women's series results (top five)

In the 2010/11 series, Pluimers won four of the five rounds, but her 17th-place finish in the fourth round meant she finished second in the series, six points behind series winner Courtney Hancock.

Men's series results (top five)

References

{{Reflist

External links

The Nutri-Grain Ironman/Ironwoman Series 2014/2015
Lifesaving in Australia 1986 establishments in Australia Recurring sporting events established in 1986 Australian sports television series Nine's Wide World of Sports Surf lifesaving