Taylor wins another round in ironman series

FEBRUARY 2, 2019: Cory Taylor approaches the finish line for his first Nutri-Grain series win, also at Surfers Paradise. File picture by Shane Myers©2019 Ocean6

GISBORNE surf lifesaving athlete Cory Taylor has won again in the tough Nutri-Grain IronMan Series in Australia.

The Dawson Building Midway lifeguard won his first ever round of the series last summer to join a select group of kiwis to have won races at that level of competition in Australia.

At the weekend he added another series event victory in the fourth round at Surfers Paradise.

Taylor, a four-time New Zealand ironman champion, who also competes for the Northcliffe club in Australia, started the specialist iron race with a five-second lead in the handicap start.

He was the top performer in the earlier separate four-minute races across the run, board, swim and ski.

Athletes had only three minutes to recover between the four races and five minutes before the iron race.

Taylor, 26, ended up winning by around 30 seconds and could not stop smiling after his 'rip and rip' performance.

'Being able to finish a Nutri-Grain race and have time to stop and celebrate with your coach and your team around you is something you dream about,' Taylor said.

'It feels awesome at the end of the year to do that, because it has been an up-and-down year.

'We had only eight days after the worlds before the Coolangatta Gold and it just did not work.

'So I had to take some time off, reset, build towards this event at Surfers and it has worked out. So it's awesome to finish the year like this.'

The series is well and truly alive ahead of the final round next month at North Cronulla.

'It's anyone's guess who'll be walking away with the Nutri-Grain IronMan Series title,' an event spokesman said.

The final round of the series will be held on January 19 at North Cronulla, where the men will be chasing the series winner's cheque of $A25,000.