YOUNG GUNS QUALIFY AS MERCER BREAKS DOWN IN NUTRI-GRAIN TRIAL

February 5: As some of Ironman racing's young guns qualified to contest this weekend's rounds of the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Ironman Series at Alexandra Headland, a legend of the sport suffered more heartbreak.

Mooloolaba's Josh Minogue and Harriett Brown of Northcliffe won the men's and women's qualifying trials this afternoon but veteran Dean Mercer broke down with what appeared to be a reoccurrence of the calf injury that kept him out of the first two rounds of the series.

Mercer originally suffered the injury in the series trials last December and was a last-minute withdrawal before the qualifying race for rounds one and two at Kurrawa last month.

Today he won the semi-final of the trials in his normal give-it-everything style and looked set to make it through to the weekend's racing.

In the final, he struck trouble - along with plenty of others - when hit by a big wave in the ski leg and then in trying to make up ground in the transition to the board leg pulled up quickly with what seemed to be another calf tear.

The injury puts a cloud over Mercer's future in surf lifesaving. He retired after last year's national championships but made a comeback to chase his dream of winning the marathon Coolangatta Gold last October, in which he finished second.

Minogue, a former member of the Australian junior swim team, used his pool expertise to come from fourth place to take out today's trial.

He entered the final swim leg behind Cameron Gordon (Northcliffe), Trent Goulding (Northcliffe) and clubmate Cameron Cole but powered through the water and caught a big wave to win narrowly from Gordon, with a fast-finishing Alex Tibbits (Mooloolaba) taking the third and final place in the weekend's racing.

"That was everything I expected and more," a happy Minogue said.

"I'm really looking forward to racing with the top performers tomorrow.

"The only bad bit was when I swam past Cam Cole because he has been putting me up at his flat for the past couple of weeks.

"I felt terrible - I'll have to buy him a case of beer or something."

Brown qualified for the opening rounds of the series at Kurrawa and ensured she will contest rounds three and four when she crossed the line just ahead of clubmate Casey Leo-Litzow.

Racing herself to exhaustion in third place was diminutive Kelly-Ann Perkins (Metropolitan Caloundra), who attracted plenty of attention when she won the trial at Kurrawa and the grabbed $2000 in the round one Dash for Cash race.

Perkins, 17, weighs just 44 kilograms but about 40kg of that must be muscle and heart and she will get plenty of Sunshine Coast support in the weekend's races.

Round three of the Ironman and Ironwoman series will be raced tomorrow in a sprint format and round four on Sunday is an ‘Athletes Choice' round involving two tradition Ironman races with a time limit for competitors to qualify for the second race.

Shannon Eckstein (Northcliffe) won rounds one and two of the men's series to lead on 40 points ahead of Hugh Dougherty (Tugun) on 38, Ky Hurst (Kurrawa) 36 and Matt Poole (Mooloolaba) 32.

Alicia Marriott (Mooloolaba) leads the women's pointscore on 38 points, ahead of Hayley Bateup (Kurrawa) and Kristyl Smith (Northcliffe) tied on 37, Naomi Flood (Manly) 35 and Elizabeth Pluimers (Northcliffe) 33.

FAST FACTS....

START TIMES

Saturday February 6 - 11.15am - (Ironwoman races followed by Ironmen)

Sunday February 7 - 11.15am - (Ironwoman races followed by Ironmen)

DATES AND LOCATIONS

Round 1 16 January 2010 Kurrawa (Gold Coast)

Round 2 17 January 2010 Kurrawa (Gold Coast)

Round 3 6 February 2010 Alexandra Headland (Sunshine Coast)

Round 4 7 February 2010 Alexandra Headland (Sunshine Coast)

Round 5 21 February 2010 North Cronulla (Sydney)

SEVEN NETWORK BROADCAST SCHEDULE

Sunday 17 January 2010 12-2pm

Sunday 31 January 2010 12-2pm

Sunday 7 February 2010 12-2pm

Sunday 14 February 2010 12-2pm

Sunday 21 February 2010 11.30am - 1.30pm

*Check local guides for more details

FORMATS

Round 3: "The Sprint"

Athletes will be divided into two semi finals based on their ranking in the series after two rounds. They will take on a sprint course.

Semi final one will have all the odd ranked athletes (i.e. 1st, 3rd, 5th... and so on), while semi final two will have the evens (i.e. 2nd, 4th, 6th etc). There will be prize money for the winners of each semi final.

Final A will include the top 5 athletes from each semi final to make up a 10 person A final. Final B will include the bottom 5 athletes from each semi final to make up a 10 person B final. The remaining prize money will be distributed amongst the top 8.

Racing order for Semis and Finals - Board / Ski / Swim

Round 4: "Athletes' Choice" - Two races and a countdown

Race 1 - Traditional Ironman/Ironwoman course (ski, board, swim)
The athletes will race on a traditional Ironman/Ironwoman course. The athletes that cross the finish line in first, second or third place will pick up some prize money and a clock will be started with a 1 minute 30 second count down on it. All the competitors that also cross the finish line within the 1 minute 30 seconds will compete in race two. Any athlete who does not cross the finish line within the 1 minute 30 second cut off will be eliminated.

Race 2 - Traditional Ironman/Ironwoman course (board, swim, ski)
Race two will also be a traditional Ironman/Ironwoman course which is where the major round prize money and series points are up for grabs